Bengal circle of dept of posts to provide aid in exporting items made by small traders & artisans

kolkata: The Bengal circle of the department of posts has taken a special initiative to provide assistance in exporting items manufactured by small traders and artisans by taking up the responsibility of arranging administrative clearances for such exports.

Presently, such services are being offered at 38 post offices free-of-cost for facilitating small traders and artisans.

“We are making arrangements for providing identity cards, GST registration, and requisite papers for customs for these traders and artisans. Our employees are being trained for this purpose.

There have been allegations of touts cheating these people with promise of helping them in export.

With this initiative, these traders and artisans will not only get good return for their items, but will also have a hassle-free experience. The online booking of the item and the custom clearance is also being offered by us,” Anil Kumar, post master general (mails & business development), West Bengal Circle, said at an awareness session for exporters on ‘New Initiatives of Indian Postal Service’ organised by Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI).

Different articles are being exported to America, France, Canada, Japan, and the UK through 38 post offices at present. The department of post is, at present, catering to 213 countries and has been doing e-commerce with 38 countries of the Asia Pacific region, Kumar said.

He said that the department of post has earned Rs 450 crore from saving bank accounts, Rs 299 crore from parcel delivery, Rs 9.21 crore from issuance of Aadhar and Rs 2.11 lakh from passport issuance.

He said that there is a network of 60,000 post offices in India, of which 12,000 are in West Bengal, and these create a huge network, which

not only facilitated delivery of all types of goods across the country but also exports under the ‘Dakghar Niryat Kendra’ scheme.

This scheme facilitated exports of even the smallest item from any part of country, especially from remote corners and even items like gangajaal are being exported.