Rural postal life insurance biz zooms

Rural Postal Life Insurance, a scheme administered by the Department of Post for the rural populace, has grown manifold to develop business worth Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) for the 2003-04 fiscal from Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.50 billion) in 1999.

"Our Postal Life Insurance Scheme has developed business worth Rs 6,000 crore for 2003-04 from Rs 550 crore in 1999," Shakeel Ahmed, minister of state for communications and IT told PTI in New Delhi.

The RPLI was introduced in 1995 as an extension of the Postal Life Insurance Scheme to the rural populace of the country. PLI is open to employees of all central and state government departments, nationalised Banks, PSUs, financials institutions and local bodies.

In an attempt to offer more services to people and develop an alternate revenue stream, the department is also exploring the possibility of offering financial billing payment services through post offices.

"We are exploring the possibilities of offering every type of government transaction like electricity bills, income tax returns, and have asked the secretary, postal department, to prepare a report on the same," he said.

The search for more alternate revenue resources for the DoP, which gives out a subsidy of 65 per cent, is an attempt to be more self-sufficient, he said.

Expressing satisfaction at the declining grievance rates which stood at 0.05 per cent, he said: "We want to facelift the post offices across the country."