India Post, which has 150,000 rural post offices and 240,000 Dak Sewaks, will be repositioned to act as a catalyst for the rural economy, with its role being transformed as a large public logistics company.
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The department, which has a Payment Bank — India Post Payment Bank — will expand its range of services, which will include rural community hub colocation, institutional account services, direct benefit transfer, cash out, and EMI pick-up. Further, the government is also looking to extend credit services to micro enterprises, insurance and assisted digital services for rural areas.
The department has been allocated Rs 27,099 crore for FY26 compared to Rs 25,793 crore in the revised estimate for FY25.
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“Repositioning India Post as a rural economic catalyst and a large-scale public sector logistics player is a transformative move. Its vast network can bridge critical supply chain gaps for MSMEs, agri-entrepreneurs, and rural artisans,” said Amit Vatsyayan, leader – agriculture, livelihood, social and skills at EY India.
According to Vatsyayan, investing in last-mile delivery technology and upskilling the workforce in digital and logistics management will be key to unlocking its full potential and driving inclusive growth.
In September last year, communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that the government is looking to transform India Post into a logistics company and increase its revenue by 50-60% in the next 3-4 years. Currently, the turnover of India Post is about Rs 12,000 crore.
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In a bid to provide high-speed internet in rural areas, the government will provide broadband connectivity to all government-run secondary schools and primary healthcare centres through the BharatNet programme.
So far, through the BharatNet a total of 214,323 Gram Panchayats (GPs) have been connected. Further, 1.2 million fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections are commissioned so far.
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