A Task force on leveraging the post offices network of
the country among others had suggested setting up of three subsidiaries as a
part of a holding company under the Postal Department under the Ministry of
Communication and Information Technology for extending services in the fields
of banking, insurance and e-commerce. The Report of the Task Force headed by
former Cabinet Secretary Shri T.S.R. Subramanian was submitted to the Minister
for Communications and Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad in
New Delhi today.
In all five subsidiary companies will be called
Strategic Business Units (SBU)..Two other subsidiaries are for distribution of
3rd party products and services like providing e-services for
general public for bill collections and providing of application forms,
documents and certificates on commercial basis. Another subsidiary is for .delivery
of government services like Aadhaar ration cards, Vikas patras, etc. on agency
basis. It was also proposed that each SBU will have a separate independent
board to operate commercially as a profit centre. Each one of the SBU over
the time may go for public participation through public issue. It was proposed
that a new postal law may be enacted to give statutory basis for these
operations.
After receiving the Report, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad
said that there will be a structured response to the recommendations of the
Task Force on priority basis. He said after having felt the need to
rediscover the potential of the postal department in the country, he had made
a request to the Prime Minister to which Shri Narendra Modi had readily
responded by constituting this Task Force. He hoped that the vast connectivity
of the Postal Department would be fully exploited to be a part of the
e-commerce boom in the country. The Minister said that not a single employee of
the postal department will be removed as a part of any reformation of the
Department. He also said that there will not be undue increase in the price of
the post card and other postal services that are mostly used by the poor.
Earlier the Chairman of the Task Force Mr. Subramanian
said that as banking and financial services are not available in most of over
six lakh villages of the country, it was felt that a ‘Post Bank of India’
which is professionally organized should contribute for a financial inclusion
of the rural poor. He also hoped that there could be a creation of over five
lakh new jobs over next 3-5 years. He pointed out that State Governments are
also keen on the prospects of implementation of the recommendations of this
Task Force.
The
Task Force was constituted on 21st August this year had the
following members:-
1. Shri T.S.R.
Subramanian, Retd. Cabinet Secretary - Chairman
2. Shri T.V.
Mohandas Pai, Bangalore - Member
3. Dhri G.N. Bajpai,
Mumbai Former Chairman, SEBI - Member
4. Dr. Ravindra
H.Dholakia, IIM, Ahmedabad - Member
5. Shri R S.
Sharma, Secretary (E&IT),Govt.of India - Member
6. Shri L.C. Goyal,
Secretary, Deptt. of Rural - Member
Development,
Govt. of India
7. Shri Rakesh
Garg, Secy. Deptt. of Telecom,G.O.I - Member
8. Ms. Kavery
Banerjee, Secretary, Deptt. of Posts - Member
9. Shri Kamleshwar
Prasad,Member (O),Deptt.of Posts- Member
10. Shri Vasumitra,
CPMG,Delhi Circle,Deptt.of Posts -Member Secretary
For the full report of the Task Force pls. click the link below
