Most people prefer to have a courier collect mail for delivery instead of standing in line at the local post office. Hence it is not surprising that India's Department of Posts has been feeling threatened by the courier industry, which is now worth US$800 million in India.
The result of the department's insecurity is a proposal to amend the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 to ban private courier companies from carrying packages that weigh less than 500 grams and to make carriage of this category of parcels the exclusive domain of the Indian Post Office. The proposed amendment also seeks to raise the registration fees for courier companies to about US$2,272, with renewal fees of about US$1,136 a year. In addition, it proposes to impose a surcharge equal to 10% of the gross revenue earned by the courier company, payable to the Universal Service Obligation Fund maintained by the...
The rest of this article is only available to subscribers.