Indian Railways’ New Parcel Policy To Ferry Cell Phones, Daily Use Objects To Widen Its Revenue Streams

The Indian Railways is amending its parcel policy to include the ferrying of cell phones, alcohol-based sanitisers, toiletries and other daily use objects. The move will help Indian Railways to increase its revenues from ecommerce players that have been using its network for delivery. 

The ET report quoted sources as saying that after the inclusion of new products under the railways’ parcel policy, ecommerce companies have to follow stringent packaging and safety conditions while transporting their products via the railway network. 

To enable changes in the existing parcel policy, the Indian Railways is scrutinising parcel guidelines set by airlines and is looking to adopt a similar policy to ferry cell phones and other daily use products. 

Big ecommerce players are also welcoming the move as the new parcel policy will help them make better use of the available railway network. Interestingly, around 8-10% of goods sold by giant ecommerce players such as Amazon India are ferried via railway.

By introducing a new parcel policy, the Indian Railways will also diversify its revenue resources. At present, it is clocking a significant amount of revenue from freight movement of coal, steel and cement. 

The latest development comes after the Ministry of Railways announced that it would invest up to INR 1.5 Cr in Indian startups that will help innovate the existing railways’ network with the creation of low-cost solutions as well as products. 

Through this, the ministry plans to resolve quality, reliability and maintainability-related issues in the Indian Railways. Additionally, it seeks to employ new-age technologies developed by homegrown startups to improve operational efficiency and safety of the existing railway network. 

Prior to this, the Indian Railways’ arm RailTel Corporation had associated with the IIT-Roorkee to construct drones that can automate monitoring of rail tracks. It was a part of Telecom Centres of Excellence initiative, which was a brainchild of India’s telecom industry and Indian Railways. 

Additionally, the Indian Railways utilised artificial intelligence and satellite technology to redesign the IRCTC website. By doing so, the IRCTC website is now able to offer additional services including hotel and meal bookings to the customers.

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