What is the Indian Postal Service?

Indian Postal Services & Ecommerce firms
Indian Post

One of India’s Group ‘A’ civil services, the Indian Postal Service, has helped the country in the rapid flow of communication and social-economic development. Some decades back, the messages in the letters were written by people beautifully and sent through this medium in large numbers across the country.

Being the largest postal network in the world since 1854, it offers traditional postal services, banking and e-commerce services. It had become one of the key historical records of how the letters were delivered successfully when android mobile phones didn’t exist. However, as Android and iPhones are in use, many people still opt for postal services because of their reliability.

They operate their function with the name of ‘India Post’, and it has non-commercial services, namely payments of old-age pensions and MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) wages. The IPoS cadre officers are the higher-ranked officers of the post office hierarchy in the country. The Ministry of Communications monitors the authority and regulations.

The postal services comprise 22 circles for states and a Base circle for postal services to the armed forces. Chief Postmaster General leads each circle, and the officers in the Base circle get deployed to the Army Postal Service. In addition, Postmaster General heads circles which get divided into regions.

Functions of Indian Postal Service

  1. Supervising and handling of divisional postal services
  2. Ensuring proper services of Mail and Post offices in a division
  3. Dealing with various tools and working with resources such as technology, materials and finances
  4. Practising optimization process and maintaining standards of the postal network inside a division
  5.  Public Grievance Redressal System and customer relations with solutions to that
  6. Marketing of India Post services and products, namely insurance and Banking
  7. Maintaining coordination with other government agencies like District Administration, police, etc.
  8. Handling of personnel in the division.

Indian Postal Service Training

It is divided into two stages as follows:

  1. Foundation Course at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy(SVPNA), Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration(LBSNAA), National Academy of Direct Taxes as per the recommendations listed by the Department of Personnel and Training.
  2. Professional coaching in management and administration of postal services at Rafi Ahmed Kidwai National Postal Academy(RAKNPA)

Indian Postal Service Officers

IPoS officers benefit from the same rewards and provisions as other officers from ‘Group A’ Services of the Indian Government, namely concessional medical facilities, government accommodation, etc. They can also be placed in other services and can undertake study leaves offered by the government accordingly. Among the Group ‘A’ services, it is the best promotional option. UPSC candidates can participate in the service by showcasing their interest in it and obtaining the required rank in the IAS exam.

Positions at Indian Postal Service

  1. IPoS cadre officers could work as Senior Superintendent of Post Offices when it comes to junior level. 
  2. As Postmaster General, IPoS cadre officers could be the supervisor of various post offices in different places. If they get deployed in the field, they might get the charge of Chief Postmaster and Additional Postmaster General.
  3. The IPoS cadre officers may also act as Superintendent of Railway Mail Service.
  4. IPoS cadre officers serve as Director-General of Posts, and they could also act as Chairman of the Postal Services Board.
  5. IPoS cadre officers might get the charge of Secretary to the Government of India at a top-level position.