It is no surprise that the once prestigious and loved Indian postal services has over years moved closer towards oblivion over the last 2 decades. And why wouldn’t it, the then coming of age of the internet and its horde of modern age tools (some of which we can’t live without), created this slide.

However, in the boom stage of the e-commerce industry in India, the internet has proved itself to be a Pandora’s Box.

India’s �?e-tailer’ titans like Amazon & Snapdeal are already running pilot projects with Indian Postal Services. And yes, Flipkart is also likely to follow. What these companies have realised is the vast delivery network of the postal service in India, which is still far superior to any many private entities.

Example, Postal Services covers 25000 pin codes, which is still a whopping 15,000 more than the largest private courier service in India.

It is not only the total reach, but the ability to reach close to 90% of rural India which puts the Indian Postal Service a serious logistics partner.

These pilot projects are some serious generated close to 2,000 Cr in the first 3 quarters of 2014-15. Both Snapdeal and Amazon already have their agreements in-place and have already ventured into CoD (Cash on Delivery) model as well. Close to 500 cr worth of transactions were handled by the postal service last year.

With the parallel efforts of more people getting access to the internet and the eCommerce market in India, looking to be stagnant, there is a serious pull factor for exploring newer markets. While Amazon is an established International Brand, Flipkart and Snapdeal are yet to make their mark globally.