Postal Department incurs loss of Rs 7 a postcard, Rs 5 inland letter

NEW DELHI: The Department of Posts is incurring a loss of over Rs 7 per postcard and about Rs 5 per inland letter as the revenue earned is far lower than the actual cost.

As per the 2013-14 figures of the Department of Posts (DoP), the average cost of a postcard is 753.37 paise while the revenue is 50 paise, whereas for inland letter the cost is 748.39 paise and the revenue earned is 250 paise.

Most of the services of the postal department are incurring losses barring competition postcard, letter and book post of periodicals.

The average revenue earned for services such as parcel, registration, speed post, insurance, money order, Indian postal order and registered newspaper is also lower than the average cost.

"During the financial year 2013-14, the deficit of the department was Rs 5,473.10 crore as against the previous year's deficit of Rs 5,425.89 crore, which is an increase of 0.87 per cent," DoP said in its annual report.

The department said that total revenue earned including remuneration for savings bank and savings certificates work during the year 2013-14 was Rs 10,730.42 crore while the gross working expenditure was Rs 16,796.71 crore.

The DoP though recovered Rs 593.19 crore from other ministries and departments, so the deficit turned out to be Rs 5,473.10 crore for the reported period.