NEW DELHI: The government is working on a two-pronged approach for the Department of Post to enter mainstream banking and insurance.

Even as KPMG is conducting a study on modernising the DoP, an inter-ministerial group is reviewing the workings of the department for a full-fledged entry into banking and insurance.

The two studies are aimed at transforming the Department of Post, communications minister Dayanidhi Maran said at the closing ceremony of the sesquicentennial year of India Post on Tuesday.

The transformation would be visible next year, he indicated. DoP officials termed the change in the department a “metamorphosis from a pigeon to a Phoenix”.

Significantly, the postal department is also getting into money transfer business, in tie-up with ICICI Bank.

To begin with, the service will be available in Bihar.

When asked whether the government was planning a law to bring courier companies under its ambit, a senior official in the Department of Post said, “We’ll focus on improving our services rather than introducing a law.”

The department has lost considerable business to courier companies over the years.

Realising that, the government had revived the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill, 2002, that sought to regulate private courier and express companies. If the bill is enacted, courier companies would be barred from carrying letters below a certain weight.

Meanwhile, Maran announced the launch of corporate e-post, new look letter box, expansion of logistics post and computersisation of all the 26,000 post offices.

The communications ministry has already written to the PM and the Planning Commission for an additional financial support of Rs 625 crore for computerisation of post offices.

While e-post was launched earlier, corporate e-post will now allow companies to send their messages on official stationery  to up to 9999 addresses simultaneously at no additional cost. E-post is all about typing your message on the computer, access the e-post portal at indiapost.nic.in and sending the message like an e-mail. The message will be printed at a post office closest to your recipient’s destination and delivered to him. The charge for e-post service is Rs 10 per page per addressee.

Logistics post is also being exptended across the country, beyond Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh. Logistics post allows businesses to book consignment loads with designated post offices.

As for the new look letter box, Mumbai has contributed towards it. The rain-resistant box, which officials claimed would not be spoilt for at least 20 years, has been designed by Indian Institute of Technology, Powai.