Global postal administrations should think differently:Pranab

Says postal administrations should be proactive to change

In the backdrop of rapid changes taking place in the means of communications, President Pranab Mukherjee today said global postal administrations should proactively think of changes to compete with other market players in providing various high quality services.

"The changing global scenario calls for postal administrations around the world to think differently. They must be proactive to change. They must leverage their strengths to provide quality service to the people," Mukherjee said while inaugurating the 11th Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) Congress here.

He said with rapid changes in technology, other means of communication such as e-mail have become increasingly important and people expect the same standards of quality, accountability and transparency that are being provided by other market players from the postal services.

"In the context of a growing digital economy, the changing customer expectation has made it imperative for postal service providers to innovate and develop services suited to their requirements," the President said.

Stating that globalisation has opened a great window of opportunity for the postal sector, Mukherjee said, "there is a huge scope for postal services to be engaged in e-commerce, and gain from the rising demand for such business products."

He said in 2012, around 60 million migrant workers of Asia Pacific region lived outside their countries of origin and they remitted $260 billion to their households.

The President said with increasing requirement for remittance channels, the postal sector can make a difference.

"Post offices and other agencies like banks, money transfer operators, micro finance institutions and mobile operators are key players who can contribute in developing the remittance market," he added.