Rural Post offices in a Modern form – Darpan (Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India)

The Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha today launched DARPAN – “Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India” Project to improve the quality of service, add value to services and achieve “financial inclusion” of un-banked rural population. He said, the goal of the IT modernization project with an outlay of Rs. 1400 Crore is to provide a low power technology solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM) which will enable each of approximately 1.29 Lakhs Branch Post Offices (BOs) to improve the level of services being offered to rural customers across all the states. Shri Sinha said that as on date, 43,171 Branch Post Offices have migrated under the “DARPAN”projectwith the aim of financial inclusion to rural population and it is targeted to complete the project by March, 2018.

The Project shall increase the rural reach of the Department of Posts and enable BOs to increase traffic of all financial remittances, savings accounts, Rural Postal Life Insurance, and Cash Certificates; improve mail operations processes by allowing for automated booking and delivery of accountable article; increase revenue using retail post business; provide third party applications; and make disbursements for social security schemes such as MGNREGS.

As part of IT modernization project, the Department of Posts (DoP) has carried out business process reengineering across various functional areas and has created To-Be processes that will enable it to achieve these objectives. As an achievement, Department of Posts has established 991 ATMs across the country, which are interoperable with other banks and the common people has directly benefited with the wide network of Department of Posts especially in rural areas. Till now, 1,12,85,217 transactions have been carried out on the DOP’s ATMs out of which 70,24,214 transactions have been done by the non-DOP customers. Department of Posts is the only Government player in this space.  

For more than 150 years, the Department of Posts (DoP) has been the backbone of the country’s communication and has played a crucial role in the country’s socio-economic development. It touches the lives of Indian citizens in many ways: delivering mails, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance cover under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The Department of Posts also acts as an agent for Government of India in discharging other services for citizens such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement and old age pension payments. With 1.5 lakh Post Offices (approximately), the Department of Posts has the most widely distributed postal network in the world.

Trends such as urbanization, increased demand for financial services, increased funding by the government for the weaker sections and the rural sector, have opened up new opportunities for the Department of Posts,which in turn has necessitated development of new processes and supporting technology. The Department of Posts is also faced with twin challenges of increasing competition and continuing advances in communication technology, especially in mobile telephony and the Internet. In order to provide the best-in-class customer service, deliver new services and improve operational efficiencies,the Department of Posts has undertaken an end to end IT modernization project to equip itself with requisite modern tools and technologies. The IT modernization project intends to achieve the following:

Wider reach to the Indian populace through more customer interaction channels

Better customer service

III. Growth through new lines of business

IT enablement of business processes and support functions

<><><><><> 

Read more at : https://www.indiapost.gov.in/VAS/Pages/News/Darpan.pdf

Service Desk Details for CSI and FSI support

Dear User

Use the below URL to log ticket on SERVICE DESK . Kindly follow these steps for Quick resolution of the problem.

1. Log Ticket at "http://servicedesk.indiapost.gov.in" by using your SSO credentials.(24X7X365)

2. User can also log tickets directly through their Smart phones by using their SSO credentials. The mobile app can be downloaded by accessing url: "https://msd.indiapost.gov.in/EmployeeRegistration/"

3.Call our avr no. 022-62312700 for any assistance.

Note: CSI service desk do not support any email.

Operating and Accounting Procedure of POS Machine at Post Offices for provision of Cashless transactions

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE

MERCHANT ACQUIRING BUSINESS INSTALLATION OF POS MACHINES AT POST OFFICES FOR PROVISION OF CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS

Preamble:

In order to provide digital payment options to the customers of India Post, the Department has approached the largest Bank in the country viz. State Bank of India to provide the Point of Sale (POS) terminals which can be used to make card-based payments. These POS machines will be initially used to book domestic and foreign speed post, Registered Letters/Parcels, Money Orders & buying stamps and any other transactions being done by Post Offices (except Banking/Insurance transactions).

OPERATING PROCEDURE:- 

1.   The Postal Assistant (PA)/Sub Postmaster (SPM) in respect of counter operations will accept valid debit/credit & prepaid cards 

2.   CEPT Mysore has release the updates to modify the Point of Sale module in Meghdoot to accept cash/card mode. 

3.   PA/SPM will enter the category of transaction, Transaction number (eMO/SP/Regd) and amount for the transaction for which data will flow to CEPT server at the day end.

4.   Counter PA at the end of the day while handing over the transactions to the Treasurer will account for the card based transactions amount as part of cash and handover related vouchers along with the daily report thereof generated in the desktop application

5.   The treasurer will enter the total of such card based swipe machine receipts in his Treasurer’s Cash Book (TCB) and preserve the daily consolidated report alongwith the receipts which are received from the counter PAs.

6.   Respective entries will also be made in the HO summary and HO cash account.

7.   Similarly in respect of Sub Post Offices (SO) the daily account will show the details of cash and swipe vouchers in respect of each category of accounts.

8.   The entries will be entered in the SO summary at HO. Necessary fields of swipe machine receipts in the Treasury modules of Meghdoot can be customized by installing the updates released by CEPT. 

Accounting Procedure:

1.   One Nodal office for DOP (Hyderabad GPO) has been identified for the purpose of settlement of payments by SBI to the Postmaster Account. This settlement will be made on T+1 basis one consolidated entry (remittance to bank).

2.   Accountant of the nodal HO will tally the T+1 settlement entry with reference to the MIS daily report provided by the CEPT and with the amount in the HO cash account under the head Card Swipe machine charges category wise provided to the user of the nodal office. The nodal office will also reconcile the information with reference to the Bank scrolls and take it into account of “Card Swipe machine receipts” in receipt side and as bank remittance towards the “Card Swipe machine payments”. Any discrepancy is to be reported by the Postmaster to settle the issue with SBI.

3.   At accounts section, One schedule will be generated for the Card Swipe machine transactions and the same will be reconciled with the MIS provided by SBI.

4.   For generation of MIS, SBI will share all the details of machine transactions like date, machine number, office name, office pincode, Transaction number, category of account and amount to CEPT server.

5.   CEPT taking the transaction data from Meghdoot application of post offices where POS machines are installed will develop a MIS portal which shows all the MIS reports for the day and the fortnight and Month.

6.   Circle DA(P) of each Circle will carry out the monthly reconciliation of payments by means of Schedules of “Card Swipe machine Receipts” and “Card Swipe machine Payments” received by each HO and consolidated amounts will be certified to the DA(P) of AP Circle so as to carry the consolidated reconciliation with the Bank Scrolls of the Nodal HO in respect of the All India Receipts and Payments.

7.   CEPT Mysore should develop a module whereby reconciliation is automated by matching the card based transactions made by all Circles with the amount received by SBI.

Card Usage Instructions:

1.   The Post Office should not levy any charges on the card holder for permitting the customer to use a valid card.

2.   The Post Office shall not place any minimum transaction limit for using a valid card. 

3.   The Post Office shall ensure that the card is a Valid Card and shall swipe the card on the PoS terminal and enter the details of the transaction as displayed and ensure that Reserve Bank of India guidelines which requires entering of PIN (as applicable) as well as Non PIN cards are also accepted. 

4.   Post Office shall ensure entering of PIN by the card holder and to ensure that while entering of PIN sufficient privacy is given to the card holder.

5.   The Post office shall obtain the signature of the card member on the charge slip and verify the same with the signature of the Card Member on the back of the Valid Card. In case of a photo card, Counter PA shall also verify that the photograph on the card matches with the card holder.

6.   The Post Office will initially not allow or make any cash advances and/ or cash refunds directly to the Card Members. The Post Office will allow card holders to perform transactions equivalent to the amount utilized for the service.

7.   DOP will be responsible to the demurrages due to official negligence otherwise the regular maintenance of the machine to be covered by AMC with SBI.

DOP Instructions on change of India Post eMail Password or AD User Password

Please note that the Password for Email Id and AD User Id is one & same for a particular user and change using either of the way above will change the password of both. Further please note that the new password being constructed should comply with the DoP Password Policy in force.

The Highlights of the existing DoP Password Policy are:

❖Password must be minimum 09 characters and should include - 

    
➣English uppercase characters (A - Z). 

         
➣English lowercase characters (a - z).

          
➣Base-10 digits (0 - 9). 

         
➣Special Characters (e.g.! $, #, %). Extended ASCII, Symbolic/linguistic characters.          

❖New Password is not same as the 05 immediate old password.     

❖New Password should not contain the user's account name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters.     

Process of Change of Password: Either of the following ways:

1.   Through Login into mail box using Webmail / OWA:
a. Login into Webmail / OWA with your email address and current Password. After login, at the top right hand side you will find a "Settings" button.     
b. Click on "Settings" button and select "Change Password" option.     
c. Enter the details asked for in the next screen i.e. Current Password, New Password and Confirm New Password.     
d. Click on "Save" button. On successful change / resetting of password you will automatically be logged out and login screen will appear.    

 

2.   Through Login into CSI AD Joined PC: Prerequisite for using this option is that the PC being used should be joined to CSI AD Domain and user should be logged into the PC using his AD Domain User Account.

a. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and select "Change a Password" option.

     
b. Enter the details asked for in the next screen i.e. Old Password, New Password and Confirm Password.

 
c. Then press Enter. On successful resetting of Password you will receive a message "Your password has been changed". 

    
d. Click "OK" to continue. 

    
e. You will get a successful message Your password has been changed click OK to continue.    

 

P.S: In case of any support please call CSI Interim Helpdesk at 011 66076729 / 011 66076730/ 01166076755 / 01166076756 or send a mail at doptcs.wave1support@tcs.com. Please use the Standard Issue Reporting Template while reporting issues to the CSI Interim Help Desk.

Thanks You, 

DoP Email Administrator

Ph: 011 66076729 / 011 66076730/ 01166076755 / 01166076756

Email: dotptcs.wave1support@tcs.com

181 New Post Offices will be opened in this fiscal-Manoj Sinha : PIB Report

The Government has planned to open 81 Sub-Post Offices and 100 Branch Post Offices during the current financial year 2017-18 under the Scheme – “Rural Business & Access to Postal Network”. Minister of Communications Shri Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today that the Department of Posts has also planned to open 66 Branch Post Offices by creation of new posts in 32 worst affected Left Wing Extremism (LWE) districts in the country under the aforesaid scheme in the current financial year. 

Shri Sinha informed that out of 25,350 post offices in the States of the Country, 25,348 are computerised. He said that the Department of Posts takes action, from time to time, to induct technology and upgrade the system to cater to the growing market requirements and to increase revenue earnings. The Minister said that the increase or revision of rates of postal products and services is an ongoing exercise carried out from time to time and that there is no proposal to increase the rates of premium Business Development products at present...PIB

Launch of Mobile Application for Real Time Delivery Updation on PAN India Basis

Postal department deficit widens to Rs 11,138.84 crore

Deficit of the Department of Posts widened to Rs 11,138.84 crore in February this year on account of wage revision under the 7th Pay Commission. 

The revenue of the postal department was Rs 10,292.18 crore and the expenditure Rs 21,431.02 crore, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. 

The deficit widened as a result of the implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations, he said. 

In 2015-16, the deficit of DoP was Rs 6,007.18 crore, with revenue receipts totalling Rs 12,939.79 crore and expenditure amounting to Rs 18,946.97 crore. 

"Department of Posts takes action, from time to time, to induct technology and upgrade the system to cater to the growing market requirements and to increase revenue earnings," Sinha said. 

The department has plans to open 166 new branch post offices and 80 sub-post offices during the current financial year, 2017-18. 

The DoP has 1,54,802 post offices which include 812 head post offices, 24,566 sub-post offices and 1,29,424 branch post offices. The department has computerised 25,348 post offices till date.

Source:-The Economic Times

Usages of DoP ATMs-Rationalization of number of free transactions.

The competent authority has accorded approval for fixing  following limits of ATM transactions in line with the RBI guidelines with immediate effect :-

 1. DOP customers on DoP ATMs  --   Unlimited number of transactions (financial and non financial) in a month.

2. DOP Customers on other bank ATMs in the 6 metros specified in RBI guidelines--- 3 free transactions (financial and non financial) in a month beyond which Rs.20/= + taxes  per transaction be charged from customers

3. DOP customers on other bank ATMs in non-metros(other than 6 metros specified in RBI guidelines)--- 5 free transactions (financial and non financial) in a month beyond which Rs.20/= + taxes per transactions be charged from customers.

To view the RBI guidelines please  Click Here.

Postal dept sees 11% jump in revenue to Rs 13K Cr in FY 2016

The total revenue earned by Department of Posts (DoP) has grown over 11 per cent to about Rs 12,940 crore in 2015-16, Parliament was informed today.

DoP earned revenue of Rs 10,730.42 crore in 2013-14, which grew to Rs 11,635.98 crore in 2014-15 and further to Rs 12,939.79 crore in 2015-16, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Besides providing purely postal services, post offices perform agency functions like Saving Bank, payment of pension, sale of Cash Certificates etc on behalf of other ministries/ departments, he said adding that the revenue earned is classified under five major heads.

"There is an increasing trend in revenue in three major heads -- postage realised in cash from speed post, registry, business post, parcels etc; commission from Savings Bank; and other major receipts," he said.

There is a decline in two heads of revenue -- sale of stamps and commission on money orders and Indian Postal Orders etc, he added.

Revenue from sale of stamps declined from Rs 670.67 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 576.18 crore in 2014-15 and further fell to Rs 441.75 crore in 2015-16.

Similarly, commission from money orders and Indian postal orders reduced to Rs 464.84 crore in 2015-16 from Rs 641.98 crore in 2014-15.

Responding to a separate query, Sinha said DoP has 34,452 male postman and 2,708 female Postman as permanent employees. It has 1,332 male Postman and 287 female Postman as temporary employees.

In another response, Sinha said the government has planned to set up up to 650 branches of India Post Payments Bank, co-located at each district headquarter post office by September this year.

Also, about 1,000 ATMs are proposed to be established to facilitate the customers of post office saving bank, he said. 

Source:-The Times of India