File No 01-02/2022-PD
Government of India Ministry of Communications Department of Posts
(Parcel Directorate)
Malcha Marg Post Office Complex
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021
Dated 11.04.2022
Subject: Addressing issues faced in the processing of articles delivered under Cash on Delivery (COD).
This is regarding technical issues being faced by field units in processing of COD articles. Cash on delivery is an important segment of e-commerce eco-system and this facility is being offered by all e-Commerce companies to their customers. Department, must, therefore improve the performance of delivery of COD parcels and timely payment of COD amount to the e-Commerce companies.
2. Department of Posts had started COD service for its Contractual customers in 2013. In the initial years of COD operations many technical challenges were noticed in the Legacy system which was resolved with the assistance of CEPT/CSI. Detailed SOPs to handle the COD parcels have already been issued vide following letters
(i) D.O. no. 57-09/2011-BD&MD (pt) dated 11.02.2012,
(ii) letter no. 10-11/2013-BD&MD dated 07.11.2013 and
(iii) SOPs issued by CEPT for COD CSI Reports (Prior Front ending) v2.0 dated 17.07.2019,
(iv) CSI COD Front Ending Standard Operating Procedure V.1.0,
(v) Process of making Payment to E-Billers in CSI at Booking/delivery/payment POs.
3. While reviewing the current pending grievances of COD Customers, it has been noticed that regular monitoring and prompt action is required to be done by the Circle/Region/Division at following stages:
I. Booking data Sync issue- At present CSI system is being used by Department to handle Cash on Delivery operation. COD parcels are being booked in the CSI PoS system. As we are aware that COD Parcels can only be delivered through DPMS by the Delivery Office once the electronic booking information is available with the delivery office. If booking office is not doing the daily sync of booking data to the central server, it will result in non- availability of electronic information at the Delivery Office. A daily report on PoS sync status is also issued by CEPT to all Circles on daily basis. Circles to ensure that all booking locations are adopting the practice of daily sync of data. Probable issues and solutions related to PoS data sync are attached as Annexure-I.
ii. Electronic Data issue at Delivery PO - Once the COD parcel is physically received at the Delivery Office; electronic data also needs to be available with the delivery office for invoicing of the COD parcel in DPMS. If electronic data is not available, delivery office should make a call to central server using the TCODE "ZMOCODUPDATE" for receipt of electronic data for the COD parcel.
If Electronic data of COD parcel is not received even after calling the central server, delivery office to return the COD Parcel to sender. Under no circumstance manual delivery is to be made. The matter should be referred to CEPT under intimation to Parcel Directorate for further necessary action.
iii. Manual delivery — It is seen from various references received from Bulk Customers as well as from Circles that there are still many cases where delivery of COD parcels is being done manually instead of DPMS/Legacy system. Circles to ensure that delivery of COD parcels are done only through DPMS/Legacy system and not manually.
IV. Monitoring of COD KPls- There are following reports available in BI Tools namely
(i) COD Remittance Cycle
(ii) COD Remittance Age analysis
(iii) COD Recondiliation report to monitor COD payment performance.
Circles to ensure that all administrative offices monitor these reports every day. Detail of KPIs is attached as Annexure-II.
V. Issue of Credit certificate/MO/eMO: Several instances have come to notice where COD parcels are delivered manually and credit certificate/MO/eMO etc. are issued by delivery office/Division to
Payment office. Circles to ensure compliance of the instructions issued vide letter no. 10-32/2013- BD&MD dated 31.10.2016 and 21.04.2017 wherein it was clearly mentioned that under no circumstances
MOs/eMOs/Service Mos/UCR receipt etc. to be issued against the collected payment of COD parcels. Copy of instructions are attached as Annexure-III.
VI.Delivery through DPMS only: At present only Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshadweep Divisions are TNF Divisions. TNF offices must ensure that no manual delivery is done for COD parcels and the process defined for TNF offices vide letter no. 15-03/2018-PD (Vol-II) dated 14.07.2021 is followed in each case. Copy of SOP defined for TNF locations is attached as Annexure-IV. Except Arunachal Pradesh and Lakshadweep Divisions, delivery of COD Parcels should be made through DPMS only.
4. It is requested that all the booking and deliver offices may be instructed to follow the prescribed process for COD operations and all administrative offices i.e. circle/region/divisions to closely monitor the performance of COD. The performance of delivery of COD articles and the payment of the COD amount to the e-commerce companies can be improved only through intensive monitoring.
Encl: As above.
(Ajay Kumar R ) Chief General Manager
