India Post to merge registered post with speed post from September 1

From September 1, India Post will merge registered post with speed post to improve efficiency and adapt to digital trends. Telangana Postal Circle confirms the move, following a three-month review and largely positive customer feedback across post offices

Hyderabad: Come September 1, the once popular registered post service of the India Post is set to be merged and integrated with the speed post.

Officials of Telangana Postal Circle confirmed the move and said the decision comes in response to the increasing digitisation of communication and the growing dominance of private courier firms in the parcel delivery sector.

As part of enhancing efficiency, India Post, across the country, is taking out registered post, the decades-old postal service, which is now to be merged into the speed post service. The initiative is expected to strengthen the postal service’s competitiveness and cater to the evolving needs of consumers in the digital age, explained the official.

The Directorate of India Post, Delhi, instructed the Telangana Postal Circle to assess a proposal to merge registered post with speed post services. The directive includes collecting consumer feedback on various parameters, including the booking and delivery systems, user fee charges, and the handling of articles and letters, among other services.

“A marathon exercise has been taken up for the past three months, and the feedback has been forwarded to the Directorate. Overall, the majority of the postal customers are supporting the proposal of transforming registered post to speed post services, to provide better services. Some more customers have suggested continuing the registered post as the services are similar to speed post,” according to the postal official.

All 5,727 post offices in the Telangana Circle, including 32 Head Post Offices, 689 Sub Post Offices and 5,006 Branch Post Offices, are currently utilising registered post and speed post services.

Several customers at Hyderabad GPO told ‘Telangana Today’ that over the past three generations, they have used registered post services, which are known for reliability, affordability, and legal validity.

One customer, Jagadeeshwar Rao, said, “Our children used this service for job offer letters, legal notices, and other government correspondence. Of course, it is a good decision and the postal department has to switch over to the digital era as the entire world is already transformed into a digital world.”

Key Features	Speed Post	Registered Post
Features	Speed Post	Registered Post
Delivery	Address-specific	Addressee-specific
24-hour booking facility	Selected post offices	Selected post offices
Delivery Info through SMS	Available	Available
Proof delivery	Rs 10 per article	Rs 10 per article
Tariff	Depends on distance	Fixed tariff