The coming of e- stamps

The postal department is working with USbased consulting firm Accenture to prepare a detailed modernisation plan.The electronic form of postal stamps will fully substitute paper stamps in two years,” said an official with the ministry of communications and Information Technology. India Post currently has electronic stamping facility in select urban postal circles. 
 “There have been cases of revenue leaks due to postal stamps being forged in some parts of the country,” said the official, without getting into details. The department sold stamps worth Rs 606 crore in 2008-09 . It reported a loss of Rs 3,638 crore in 2008-09 after posting a 34% jump in expenditure to Rs 9,500 crore. Revenues grew only 6.6% to Rs 5,862 crore during the period.  
Its accumulated losses stand at Rs 7,640 crore. Some premium segment products such as Speed Post are already using bar coded stamps and several large cities have computerised post offices. But most parts of the country, including rural and semi-urban areas , use paper stamps
Besides shifting to e-stamps , the postal department has initiated other e-enabled services to survive in a world that is going the digital way, particularly in the communications space. Its e-post service, for instance, allows sending of messages through email to be printed at post offices near to the address.