• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Ambar Singh Roy

KOLKATA, March 29

HOW would you react if you were told that courier companies in India are not supposed to carry letters?

And that's because they are not allowed to do so as per the provisions of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898. Then what do they carry? Only documents and parcels, if the express (read courier) industry is to be believed.

Believe it or not, Article 4 the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 confers on the Union Government the "exclusive privilege of conveying letters" except in a few cases where there are no commercial considerations involved. The Act states that "wherever within India posts or postal communications are established, the Central Government shall have the exclusive privilege of conveying post, from one place to another, all letters... and shall also have the exclusive privilege of performing all the incidental services of receiving, collecting, sending, despatching and delivering all letters" except in a few cases such as letters sent by one person to another person through a third person "without hire, reward or other profit."

Letters "solely concerning the sender or receiver thereof, sent by a messenger on purpose and letters solely concerning goods or property sent either by sea or by land to be delivered with the goods or property to which the letters concern, without hire, reward or other profit..." are also outside the purview of the Act.

The debate on whether the courier business in India is strictly legal has been going on since the early 1980s when private courier companies set up shop in India. Appropriate amendments to the Indian Post Office Act have been attempted at since then. It is understood that the draft amendment is currently with the Union Cabinet for its approval and subsequent ratification by Parliament, which is expected soon. Representatives of the "express industry" aver that companies engaged in carrying "documents and parcels" from one place to another are registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and, hence, their legality is validated. Incidentally, the Indian Post Office Act does not confer on the Union Government the exclusive privilege of carrying documents and parcels.

Industry sources said that an amendment to the Act would remove the anomaly that exists. That is especially important in view of the fact that the private sector accounts for 94 per cent - about Rs 1,800 crore annually in value terms - of the express mail business in the country, the balance six per cent being handled by Speed Post of Department of Posts.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section
Annuities market thrown open to private insurers -- LIC loses exclusive preserve

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line