The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, released a commemorative coin to mark the 150th year of India post here today. Earlier, the President, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, released a set of commemorative stamps. The President also gave away the Meghdoot Awards for excellence in Postal Service.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said:

"A hundred and fifty years is but a passing moment in the history of an ancient land like India. Yet, it is difficult to imagine what life would have been before the arrival of the all-present red Post Box. For today's urban youth who communicate through e-mail and SMS, the Post Box and the Post Office may not be such an important part of their lives. But for generations of Indians, as indeed for generations across the world, the Post Box is part of their folklore. Novels have been written, poems and songs composed and movies made about the Postman, the Post Office and the Post Box. Indeed, for millions of countrymen even today, there can be no life without postal services. I am, therefore, delighted to be here at this inaugural ceremony.

The urge to communicate is a basic human instinct, driven by a desire to keep in touch with one's loved ones. This is the major reason why sending and receiving mail has been central to our lives and why the Post-office and the Postman have been dear to everyone's heart. There are, however, many other reasons for the importance of postal services. Post Offices have grown from simple providers of mail facilities to providers of money transfer services, banking facilities, small savings services, insurance services, utility payment services and as I learn from the Minister, even mutual funds and bonds. The growth in the range of services available through the postal network has been leveraged on the extensive reach of the postal network, its intimate knowledge of local realities and specificities and on the need to expand revenues through alternative services.

The spread and reach of our postal network is indeed very impressive. With 1.55 lakh post offices, this network rivals the revenue administration network in its coverage. In spite of the increase in the use of e-mail and telephone, post remains the dominant mode of communication for the vast majority of our people and for our businesses. This spread and frequency of usage provides the postal system with a unique insight into the local environment and is a major source of competitive advantage, which should be used for transforming the organization for meeting the challenges of the future.

What are the challenges the organization should be prepared for? A celebration such as this, commemorating one and a half centuries' existence of the postal system, is also an opportunity to reflect on what the future may have in store for it. Some challenges are apparent. There is likely to be a growth in the use of alternative forms of communication such as e-mail, SMS and electronic information transfer. While the post survived the challenge posed a century ago by the invention and growth in usage of the telephone, the new challenge posed by electronic communication of text is a far greater one. At the same time, while mail delivery remains a state monopoly by law, competition has emerged over the last two decades through the emergence of courier services. These services have been capturing high value customers from the postal service, leaving the most un-remunerative services with the post office.

Meeting these twin challenges of technology and competition would require the department to look minutely at the users of its postal service to ensure that they do get substantial value from its products and to prevent them from migrating to other communication channels. This exercise would also require innovation on a large scale in range of services and facilities that the postal service can provide. Customisation, value addition, flexibility and new products should be the key words to won and win the future.

A focus on value addition has to be matched by an emphasis on cost control. There is a need for streamlining the workforce and introducing new technologies to make it more productive and efficient while clearing mail. The workforce will also need to be trained to make it capable of handling multiple tasks and functions, as required by the post office of the future. There is also a need to introduce modern technology and work methods to increase the productivity of the entire postal system. I therefore, heard with great interest the commitment of the Honourable Minister for Information Technology and Communication to modernise our postal system. I wish you all Godspeed.

I would also like to draw your attention to a potential service and source of revenue. In most developed countries, labour intensive postal operations like sorting and classifying mail are outsourced to lower cost countries. It is time for Indian Post Office to examine whether they could also provide mail sorting services, particularly in view of the success India has had as a destination for IT related business process outsourcing.

Simultaneously, there is the opportunity presented by the 1.55 lakh post office network. It has already been exploited to some extent by providing banking services. I am told that the Post Office Savings Bank is the largest savings bank in the country - both in terms of number of account holders and the volume of deposits. This is a strong foundation to build future growth strategies on it. At the same time, there is a lot one can learn from the experience of other countries. Postal services elsewhere today encompass banking and financial services, retailing of consumer products, logistics management and even, in the case of Switzerland, for example, running a bus service. In many countries, the post office is the bank of first choice for consumers. India Post should set in motion a process of examining developments elsewhere as part of its growth strategy.

Obviously, there is a lot of ground to cover. There is a need to modernize the infrastructure available at post offices to make them compete with modern commercial banks. Computerisation, networking, automation, process reengineering - all these are essential ingredients of the transformation required to make the Post Office a provider of multiple services. I am happy that the Honourable Minister is taking keen interest in this regard. It will be my endeavour to provide all possible assistance to ensure that the computerization of post offices is completed in this plan period itself. I will also request the Minister to go beyond the current range of services provided and utilize this opportunity provided by the computerization initiative to expand the services available in a post office to make it a truly competitive banking institution as well. The post office has the faith of the common man in operating the largest bank in our country and this should be the launching pad for future growth and consolidation.

In conclusion, I would like to pay tribute to the Postage Stamp and the Post Man. The exciting hobby of stamp collection adds to the romance of the postal system. I am aware that great attention is paid to the issue of new stamps and there is often pressure on you to celebrate both events and personalities by issuing commemorative stamps. I urge you to pay special attention to both the quality of the subject chosen and the content of the stamp issued. Stamps are also a medium of education. I have seen stamps issued on nature and the environment, on scientific achievements and on popular causes. Our approach should be to educate the common person even as we entertain the exclusive collector.

In a continental nation like ours, there are few national services that bind us together as efficiently as the postal system. The lifeblood of this system is the lakhs of postal officers and postmen. The Postman remains a unique national institution and we must all pay tribute to his dedication and commitment, to his humanism and to his efficiency. He has survived the onslaught of telecommunication and technology, where optic fibres and satellite signals have come to challenge human interface in communication. This is a tribute to the inherently human nature of all communication.

Indian Post has served our country with great dedication, with great distinction in the last 150 years. But I venture to think that the best is yet to come. That the next 150 years will be still more productive in terms of serving the cause of our nation."