The Hindu Business Line : Govt to crack down on illegal post entering the country

Illegal entry
Postal Department deprived of what is technically called as `terminal dues'.
Similar to instances in the telecom operators routing ILD calls through illegal channels.

New Delhi , April 23

After coming down heavily on telecom operators carrying grey international long distance telephone calls, the Communications Ministry is now looking to crack down on courier companies who are allegedly bringing post from foreign countries into the country illegally as if they were domestic letters.

Senior officials in the Communications Ministry told Business Line that laws were being put in place that will track down illegal routing of post coming from foreign destinations.

Senior official sources alleged that a number of courier companies in the country were bringing in huge consignments of post from foreign countries and then injecting into the Indian postal network as if they were domestic post to avoid payment of what is technically called as `terminal dues' to the Postal Department. Terminal dues are the charges paid by the foreign postal organisations to India Post for carrying the letters within the country.

Terminal dues

Explaining the modus operandi being adopted by some of the courier companies in the country, officials said: "Normally when an item from a foreign country is sent to an Indian destination through the legal channel, the postal authority at the originating country pays money to India Post for carrying the letter or document within India on the local network of our postal department.

However, it has been observed that there are huge consignments that are being brought into the country by courier companies and then it is injected into the Indian postal system by simply putting a Rs 5 stamp, thus avoiding the terminal dues. This is leading to revenue loss for the Department of Post."

This is similar to instances in the telecom sector wherein operators were found to be bringing in ILD calls through illegal channels and terminating it in India as if they were domestic calls to avoid payment of access deficit charges.

Sources said that laws through the proposed Postal Bill would ensure that transparency comes into the postal sector and the Government will be able to detect such transactions.

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