The Rs 8,000-crore private courier industry and state-owned India Post are preparing for a turf war over the highly competitive mail delivery business.

The government wants to change the rules of the game, one that the private players have been playing by for over 50 years. By amending Section 4 of the Postal Regulation Act, 1898, the government plans to ‘‘liberalise’’ the mail business and allow private parties entry after paying a registration fee. The plan is to introduce an independent regulator for the sector as well as a dispute settlement agency, similar to the telecom sector’s regulator-tribunal pair, TRAI and TDSAT.

Confident of success, a new draft of the Act has been prepared by the Department of Posts (DoP, which, say its officials, will enforce quality and service standards on the private industry).

India Post already follows many of these standards. ‘‘It will also force the private players to go into regions which are far-off and inaccessible, adding to its costs. They cannot keep skimming profits out of the urban and business-center traffic,’’ says DoP Secretary and Postal Services Board Chairman V. Srinivasa Raghavan.

Private Couriers In A Bind

The government’s thought process has private couriers in a bind. The Postal Act is also being amended to revise the definition of ‘‘letter’’ and ‘‘document’’, which will leave the couriers no room to argue that they only deliver documents, not letters. Next, the post office will have to persuade Parliament that it is in fact ‘‘liberalising’’ the postal delivery industry, by allowing private players ‘‘legal’’ entry for the first time.

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