Courier firms oppose postal bill

The private courier industry on Thursday strongly opposed the draft postal amendment Bill, which has proposed restrictions on carrying letters weighing below 300 grams, and termed the step as "retrograde."

"The draft seems to have confirmed our fears of the government proposing a retrograde amendment. Any weight restriction on documents to be carried would be highly detrimental to consumers," R K Saboo, chairman, Express Industry Council of India, said.

The Amendment, if passed, would have adverse effect on the Indian economy, he said. The Council also opposed the imposition of levy towards Universal Service Obligation fund.

"A 10 per cent USO is highly unfair to express operators since they are nowhere in the postal monopoly segment and globally, postal regulators have been created to regulate the postal authorities and not the express operators," Saboo said.

New Post Bill may kill your courier

Industry body Assocham described the decision of the postal department as "unfortunate" and against the spirit of liberalisation.

Preventing courier companies from carrying postal packets below 300 grams would create monopolistic tendencies and discourage competition, Assocham president Anil Agarwal said.

Saboo said they would like to enter into a constructive dialogue with the government and work on ways to solve the differences.

"We want to work on ways with the government to ensure survival of the express industry and address concerns of the Postal department in a spirit of cooperation," he added.