Nepal’s minister for communication, information, and technology, Jagdish Kharel, has stressed the promotion of a smart postal service. During his inspection of the Goshwara Hulak Office, Dillibazar, on Monday, December 15, the minister said that the national postal service must adhere to the demands of the current day and progress accordingly.
Kharel emphasized the need to forward a modern postal service with commercial and professional competitiveness. “We must make the postal service more professional and competitive, the postal service must be able to earn, and the postal service needs to have an implementation-oriented action plan that can contribute to the state and the people within the next five years,” Minister Kharel said.
The ministry’s Radhika Aryal informed that initiatives are being taken for policy and structural reforms for smart post offices. She shared, “A proposal has been received by the ministry for approval of the standards for smart post offices, which will be approved and implemented soon. Budget arrangements have been made to make 50 post offices smart post offices this year,” RSS reports.
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How will Nepal Hulak Postal Service become smart?
At present, Nepal’s state-run postal service (Hulak Sewa) under the Postal Service Department remains largely traditional. It provides the following services:
- Mail,
- Philatelic services,
- Express Mail Service (EMS)
The government has proposed a postal service for eCommerce delivery for some years. But a smart postal service will come with layers of digital transformation backed by technology and seamless integration of connectivity.
The postal service will have digital tracking so that both the department and the customer can track their delivery package on smartphones or the web. Payment via digital wallets or mobile banking apps will be mainstream. The smart hulak service may also roll out a dedicated postal service app to request online booking, delivery, digital receipts, etc.
Hulak sewa has fallen behind with many private logistics/courier companies. However, in recent years, the government has been making efforts to make the postal service modern and efficient. A smart postal service will be a broader end goal to make it competitive and ruthless in the wake of fierce and saturating market competition.
