The stage is set once again for a major tussle between the French government backed DPD Continental and the government of India?s department of post (DoP) over allegations of restrictive and discriminatory treatment handed out to the former?s specialised courier services in India.
Citing discriminatory restrictions hampering its market access and business growth, international courier firm DPD Continental has taken on India Post and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for encouraging monopoly of department of posts at a time when a slew of overseas courier firms want to operate in the country. DPD Continental is a joint venture firm majority owned by GeoPost Intercontinental SAS of France which is backed by French government?s La Poste.
The company is fighting for the removal of 2 kilogram weight restriction for its couriers and expresses parcel delivery within the country when no such restrictions are imposed on some other international courier firms operating in India.
Also, the company has alleged that India Post Office Act, 1898 is creating monopoly in favour of India Post to exclusively handle letter-posts without defining the term ?letter?.
In March 2008, the FIPB had rejected the proposal of GeoPost to acquire a majority stake in Delhi-based Continental Air Express after the department of post raised reservations against what it termed GeoPost?s ?backdoor entry into India?. However, it was only after the intervention of French government in 2009 that FIPB gave its nod to the acquisition of Continental Air Express but with certain riders. Now DND Continental is seeking the removal of those riders imposed by the FIPB in 2009.
Making a case for the removal of discriminatory restrictions imposed in 2009, DPD Continental said: ?The conditions restricting the business to handling items weighing over 2 Kgs only severely limits market access and is also discriminatory as no such restrictions are imposed on other firms.?
According to sources, DPD Continental has given instances of Deutsche Post DHL?s acquisition of Blue Dart Express, Singapore Post JV in India and TNT Post to provide express delivery services in India which have been cleared by the FIPB without the imposition of any weight restriction in handling couriers and express parcels.
On its part, India Post has argued that DPD Continental while seeking permission in 2009 had outlined that it will primarily be handling parcels and couriers of weighing around 5 Kgs while the average weight of such goods will be always over 2 Kgs therefore the weight restrictions were imposed.
But DPD Continental has argued that the Indian government in 2009 had notified to the International Bureau, the Universal Postal Union headquarters that the monopoly of India Post comprises of letters up to 200 grams and therefore the monopoly of India Post should be restricted to letters upto 200 gms only.
It also accused the French firm of violating global postal conventions. DoP?s view was that as per global regulations, any postal operator seeking to establish operations outside its national territory would require an agreement with the respective member of the Universal Postal Union, in this case India.
