Govt considers tech driven audit at Department of Posts to curb revenue leakages

New Delhi, Nov 21 The government considers a technology‑backed audit and incentive-driven framework to curb revenue leakages across postal network under the Department of Posts, the Ministry of Communications said on Friday.

In this direction, Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar suggested focused field audits of high-volume Post Offices handling over 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 transactions per day, according to an official statement.

Further, he ordered integration of weighing machines with postal IT systems to eliminate manual errors and under-invoicing.

To strengthen security, the minister directed the rollout of dynamic barcoding along with prepaid booking alerts to monitor irregular transactions and prevent mid-level infusion of articles and parcels into the delivery chain, the statement said.

The measures are intended to strengthen operational controls, modernise digital security systems and to build a motivated workforce to ensure that every rupee is accounted for, the minister said.

The Union MoS also reviewed the Postal Savings Bank’s digital and financial security framework and called for stronger safeguards through biometric and OTP-based authentication for officials.

Further, the minister directed faster Aadhaar and mobile seeding of accounts and wider adoption of digital passbooks to improve transparency, minimise manual errors and prevent fraud.

Earlier this month, India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) under Department of Posts signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), to provide doorstep Digital Life Certificate (DLC) services to its pensioners.

Under this collaboration, IPPB will leverage its wide network of over 1.65 lakh post offices and more than 3 lakh postal service providers (postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks).

India Post plans to evolve into a technology-driven logistics provider and achieve 80 per cent private-sector contribution in business revenues with Rs 25,000 crore in parcel business revenue over the next five years.

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