India Post, the country's state-owned postal service, has begun enabling customers to conduct and pay for postal services online.
Launched March 10 by the Communications and Information Technology Ministry in collaboration with the Department of Post, the "e-post office" represents a modernization of India's 247-year-old postal service.
"Using the portal, customers will be able to transact various postal services online using either a debit card or credit card," a spokesman said.
The service enables users to send electronic money orders and instant money orders to post offices across India using their debit cards, he said.
An electronic money order is disbursed within 24 hours, while the more expensive instant money order is disbursed within a minute of the transaction's being authorized.
Other services offered by the portal include philatelic stamp sales, postal information, shipment tracking, PIN-code searches and feedback registering.
