Post Office Premium Scheme
Below are the premium scheme offered by Indian post office to its customers which includes:
Speed Post:
India post offers a special service called Speed Post which offers secured and time bound delivery of letters, gifts and parcel. This service was started by the India Post in 1986. It is comparatively faster and secure delivery service provided by the post offices. It normally takes 2 to 3 days to deliver such posts within India. Its charges are cheaper as compared to registered post. The name and signature of the person receiving the article is recorded on the delivery slip. It also give you tracking facility through which you can track your dak's current status. Click on Track Speed Post to track your speed post status online.
Media Post:
Through this, any corporate/ company can print its logos on post cards, inland letters, aerograms and postal stationery so that they can get better advertising exposure. In this way, the corporate or companies can get maximum benefits at very low cost and in an effective way.
Logistics Post:
This offers the transportation of goods i.e. we can send ordinary parcels and other items using this facility. The logistic charges depend upon size, weight and the distance.
Express Parcel:
Express Parcel is a premium air express and time bound parcel service. Individual can send parcel upto 20 Kilograms under this facility while Contractual can send parcel upto 35 Kilograms under this facility. Value payable facility, upto Rs. 5,000 is available on Express Parcel for retail customers. Online track and trace service to track your consignments from booking to delivery.
Other Services
Postal Life Insurance:
Post offices in India offer life insurance. Presently it is limited to the employees of the Central and state governments, public sector undertakings (PSU) and semi-government organisations. However, in October 2010, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) allowed the post office to sell insurance policies of private companies. In this way, India Post has an opportunity to earn good commission from selling insurance policies of other insurers. India Post is, however, not keen to sell the policies of other insurers as it wants to focus on its own Postal Life Insurance.
The premium rates of the Postal Life Insurance are much lower than that of other insurers but the main drawback is its limited eligibility.
Mutual Fund:
Post offices offer sale of mutual funds from their offices. A few selected mutual funds schemes are available for investment through post office. SBI MF, UTI, Reliance MF, Franklin Templeton MF and Principal MF are some of such mutual funds. This service is offered by the India Post in association with IDBI bank which is a Public Sector Bank. An investor can submit application forms, payment cheques and KYC documents at these branches. India Post is, however, not keen to sell the mutual funds due to removal of entry load.
ATM:
A few post offices offer ATM services. One can withdraw cash or can do money transfer transactions through ATMs. Separate ATM card is issued to the customers for carrying out ATM transactions.
Payments Bank:
As per the RBI's guidelines, a payments bank is a recent concept and it is a bank that can only take deposits (presently, only upto Rs.1,00,000 per customer) but cannot grant loans or issue credit cards. India Post Payments Bank is the second payments bank of India to start its functioning on January 30, 2017 when it had set up 2 branches at Raipur and Ranchi on a pilot basis. The only state-owned payment bank India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) offers people 3 types of Savings Accounts to deposit their savings in a safe instrument which also offers an attractive interest. These 3 different types of savings accounts are:
- Basic Savings Account
- Regular Savings Account
- Digital Savings Account
Forex Services:
Post offices offer prepaid forex cards in 7 currencies, demand drafts in 11 currencies and wire transfer in 13 currencies. They also issue traveller's cheques and 22 foreign currencies to foreign travellers.
Sale of Gold Coins:
One can buy 24-carat gold coins at the post office. The coins are available in three sizes: 500 mg, 1.5 g and 8 g. These coins have been imported from Switzerland and have the backing of the World Gold Council
Jansuraksha Yojana:
Under this, one can buy Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna(PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna(PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojna (APY) from post offices