Perhaps a sign of India joining the world of e-commerce, the country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has announced that India Post’s parcel revenues have increased significantly under the current National Democratic Alliance government.

According to Prasad, India Post post offices’ parcel revenues have increased by 80% since May 2014 when the current government came to power. He suggested that much of this was driven by e-commerce.

India is one of the nations in the region where e-commerce has a long way to go to achieve maturity and as such is a major target for companies seeking to break new ground. It has a growing middle class and a population of over 1 billion, as well as being the biggest democracy in the world in terms of population. With its liberal market, e-commerce has great potential in India, and those able to invest in the country stand to benefit from growth that would far outshine more mature markets in Europe and North America.

The Communications Minister has also said that all India Post delivery staff in its urban centres will soon be equipped with smartphones by the end of 2016, and the same technology will soon be rolled out to rural areas. This will speed up the systems in place, and ensure security for those sending parcels to their customers.

Prasad has also announced that his Department of Posts is working on a scheme for India Post to offer a delivery service for “Gangajal” (holy water from the Ganges, sourced at Haridwar). This should boost revenues further since the Ganges river is so important in the Hindu religion.