Sale of HMT watches through post offices in the city was launched at the Anna Road HPO on Wednesday.
The decision of the Department of Posts to tie up with HMT Ltd, was taken following the overwhelming customer response to the sale of gold coins through post offices.
Besides Anna Road HPO, the watches would be sold at the Chennai GPO. Around 50 models of HMT watches in the Rs.395 to Rs.3,300 price range would be displayed at the two post offices. A discount ranging from 10 to 25 per cent on select models would be available till June 30.
Attractive partner
Inaugurating the sales at the Anna Road facility, Postmaster General, Chennai City Region, M.S.Ramanujan said that the department has been an attractive partner to work with because of its reach and network. As many as 600 people visit Anna Road HPO daily.
The agreement with HMT Ltd is part of the initiatives of the department to augment its revenue.
“This has been a successful venture in Bangalore for over a year now and has been replicated in Chennai. Based on the patronage, the sale of HMT watches would be launched in other post offices in Chennai in three months,” he said.
Reaching out to customers
S.Paul Raj, Managing Director of HMT Ltd said the joint venture would help reach out to customers in even rural areas.
“We are planning to introduce watches for children and sportswatches in a few months. There are also plans to bring out watches with straps of different colours for women,” he said.
Kulbir Singh, Postmaster General (Business Development, Technology and Marketing) participated in the function.
Later speaking to presspersons, Mr.Ramanujan said about 120 kg of gold has been sold across the State in one year. Of this, 40 per cent sales were from Chennai region.
On the all-India postal employees strike, proposed from July 5, he said consultancy firm McKinsey has been engaged to improve mail network and operation management and the department does not have any plans for privatisation.
The closure of small post offices, in view of their low patronage, was part of the rationalisation of services that would help upgrade postal services in developing areas such as those along Rajiv Gandhi Salai, he said.
