Presently mail-tariff for post-cards and registered newspapers is decades old and is in paises where coins below rupee one are now totally out of circulation. It is senseless to have mail-tariffs in paise. Sale of post-cards has sharply declined, and mostly extra-ordinary heavy subsidy on post-cards is largely misused by chit-fund companies and other business-houses. Listeners of Akashwani also misuse extra-ordinarily subsidised post-cards to listen their names on radio by sending post-cards indicating ANY SONG as their choice. Production-cost of newspapers has risen multi-folds in last several decades, therefore it is senseless to continue with mail-tariff in paises in name of benefitting small newspapers.
Minimum postal-tariff should be rupee one for postal-articles requiring subsidy like ordinary post-cards and registered newspapers. Additional revenue can be earned to partially offset the big loss by providing remaining half of side bearing address column like on ordinary post-cards in case of post-cards in Meghdoot category. It is also high time to discontinue with totally outdated and unpopular Inland-Letter-Cards also bearing heavy subsidy with this subsidised postal-article largely misused for commercial purposes.
Mail-tariffs for rest of postal-articles should be in multiples of rupees ten with ordinary-mail tariff revised from rupees five for every 20 gms or part to rupees ten for every 50 gms and part. Either GST should be abolished from postal-services like Speed Post, or their tariffs should be so fixed that net payable price by users may be in multiples of rupees ten inclusive of GST. Speed Post tariffs require complete rationalisation for equal tariff-rise for every 50 gms slab-weight. Presently at various slabs, unreliable ordinary post is costlier than reliable and fast Speed-Post.
Extra earning can be done by introducing sponsored postal-stamps with some minimum print-order and some minimum purchase of such stamps by the sponsors. It will be an extension of system where advertisements by sponsors are printed on postal-stationery. It will popularise postal-services in competition to private courier-companies where sponsoring companies will prefer using their sponsored postal-stamps, rather than using private courier-services.
MADHU AGRAWAL