Sunday 9 September 2018

Circle Union suggests on the proposed change on strengthening the existing marketing and sales structure of PLI / RPLI



No. P3NFPE-Odisha/05 - 09/2018
Dated at Cuttack the 9th September, 2018
To
Com. R N Parashar
General Secretary, AIPEU, Group-C, CHQ
Dada Ghosh Bhawan, New Delhi – 110 008

Sub:   Strengthening the Existing Marketing and Sales Structure of PLI / RPLI - reg.

 Ref:   CGM PLI Letter D O No: - 28-06/2014-LI dated 31.5.2018

Respected Comrade,
            This has a kind reference to PLI Directorate letter under reference  on the above subject (Copy enclosed for ready reference) circulated to all HoCs on the basis of the minutes of the HoC Conference held in Bhopal from 27th to 29th April, 2018. Suggestions / comments have been sought for from the stakeholders to revisit the existing promotional structure and to implement a new promotional structure of PLI / RPLI as per Annexure A to E of the above letter.

In this context, it may be noted that as per approval of the Postal Services Board, the existing promotional structure of PLI / RPLI was implemented in many Circle vide Directorate OM No: 28-06/2014-LI dated 10.8.2016 (Copy enclosed) barring one or two circles and before complete and smooth implementation and without giving the existing proposal sufficient time to become fruitful, now a change is proposed all on a sudden roughly on  the reason low performance and failure to achieve targets under the existing system.

Though the Staff Side has been kept in dark for such changes, we could be able to collect the above letters and analyze the justification for such a change. In our opinion, PLI Directorate is just going to make experiments only in a whimsical manner since the actual reasons of low performance are something else which have been overlooked.

This Union analyzed both the letters and we are of the opinion that the existing system will work better if the shortcomings are properly addressed

Our observations are as follows.


1.   Achievement of Targets:

As per Annexure – I of the Directorate letter under reference reproduced below, the percentage in growth of PLI and RPLI business in the year 2017-18 is marginal which breeds the concept of the proposed change.  

Product
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
Target
Achievement
Target
Achievement
% growth in achievement over previous year
Target
Achievement
% growth in achievement over previous year
PLI
7500
6657.03
7,750
7233.89
8.67%
9030
7360.07
1.74%
RPLI
2500
2012.17
2,359
2120.02
5.36%
2940
2261.51
6.67%
           
But unfortunately, the facts and figures, the compulsions and limitations for such marginal performance / growth have not been properly assessed.

2.   The Drawbacks.

i.              The above growth has been achieved in spite of several adverse situations like introduction of new system without adequate numbers of Direct Agents, shortage of PLI Group Leaders / Development Officers (Working Strength 130 out of Sanctioned Strength 185), debarring the Army Postal Services (APS), IPs and ASPOs to procure business, difficulty in processing the new proposals due to continuous server slowness in PLI McCamish, non-payment of commission to the Direct Agents and non-payment of system generated incentive etc.  Without examining the above shortcomings and taking feasible steps to bring immediate solution, the whimsical decision with a fresh proposal to change this existing system is not at all appropriate and logical which may not  hamper the PLI business only but will create a very bad precedence also in future.
  
ii.            As aware, the Group Leader / D O is a tenure post with the status of  LSG Cadre  which has now been proposed to be selected every two years. When the GL / DO will be perfectly matured gaining vast experience in the field of business and marketing, he will be reverted back to his parent post of Postal Assistant for which our P As are not at all interested to work as such since there is no future prospects in the line and this is the main reason that only 130 Group Leaders / DOs are presently working out of 185 sanctioned strength. Contradictorily, in other insurance companies, a D O gets continuous promotion based on his performances to ABM (Sales), Manager ( Sales), Sr. Manager ( Sales) and so on and  thus given a wide scope to exploit his experience and knowledge for the benefit of the concerned company. While the Strategic Plan of India Post emphasizes to make our own products and services customers’ first choice on one hand and while we are making our products and services e-enabled to compete with the private players in the market fixing higher level of targets to attain self-sufficiency as per the Corporate Plan of India Post on the other, it is high time to rethink if one experienced DO / GL can procure more business in comparison to a fresher or not. 

iii.           The GLs / D Os are now selected through a written examination followed by an interview conducted by the concerned Chief PMG of the Circle and outside marketing experts. While a P A just qualifies a written examination, he gets his promotion to Postmaster Cadre / I P Cadre / P S Group-B and moves ahead in the promotional ladder without being reverted back. But it is too unfortunate to remove the Group Leader / D O who has appeared both written examination and viva-voce test which de-motivates our staff members inviting a negative impact on the business targets.

iv.           Contradictorily, the new proposal emphasizes for selection of GLs only through interview by the Divisional head as per Para - iii of Annexure – B. Dropping of the existing system of written examination will certainly invite undue favouritism and will stand in the way of selecting the eligible person for the purpose. Rather, there may be competition amongst the members of interview panel to select their own person(s). The reality is that now P As are afraid of working in the post offices  due to the heavy drawbacks in implementation of I T Modernization Project and are in search of back-house offices like Circle Office, Divisional Office, PSD, CSD, CPCs etc and making serious lobbies through the authorities found closer to them.

v.            As observed by CGM (PLI), the Direct Agents (DAs) only procure 30% business which is dissatisfactory. But the reason for this low procurement is that in addition to the DAs, Departmental Employees (DEs), Field Officers and Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS) are also allowed to procure PLI and RPLI business outside the office hours. In addition the incentive paid to the D As is inadequate and that is also not paid in time. So, though the Direct Agent system has been started since 2004, it has not yet been successful due to this parallel marketing system.

vi.           This is just a mockery since DEs are already overburdened and depressed with heavy workload working in the office till late night regularly only due to improper and hurried implementation of IT Modernization Project with continuous server / software / hardware / staff shortage problems and wherever such business is being procured by anyone is only within the office hours only.

vii.          As witnessed, nowhere, neither in Divisional Offices nor in CPCs / HOs, the GLs are provided with suitable sitting arrangements where they can arrange counseling their agents. Secondly, deployment of GLs outside their parent / neighbouring Division to which they are not familiar brings a negative impact on marketing. This squarely affects the growth in PLI / RPLI business.

3.   Suggestions:

        Thus, under the Circumstance, to strengthen the existing marketing and sales structure of PLI and RPLI business, this Union would like to suggest the followings.

i.              A separate and permanent cadre for PLI Group Leaders in the Pay Level of Rs. 4600/- with fixed line of promotion needs be created without any reversion to P A cadre since they have come out successful by appearing both a written examination and interview where as IPs and Post Master Cadre do appear only one written examination. The existing system of selection and training as enunciated Para-3 of PLI Directorate No: 28-06/2014-LI dated 10.8.2016 needs to be continued. The proposed system of selection process as per Para - iii of Annexure – B of the Directorate letter under reference will certainly be suicidal for growth of PLI / RPLI business.

ii.            While the suggestion given under Para – i of Annexure – B of the Directorate letter under reference to select one GL for each Division is a welcome step, it is suggested that the GLs should be placed under control of DDM / AD (PLI) to avoid unnecessary interference of the Divisional Heads.

iii.           Each GL should be provided with a separate chamber to function his own office where D As working under him can obtain regular counseling and the valued customers coming to PLI CPC / Post Offices can get proper feedback and after sales service.   

iv.           The GLs should be authorized for selection of Direct Agents with approval of the competent authority throughout the year with limited financial power to spend at the time of exigencies for business development. There should not be any upper limit in selecting number of D As.

v.            The parallel system of procuring PLI / RPLI business both through D As and DEs needs to be stopped eliminating D Es for the reasons mention in Para 2 (vi) above. In this digital era, when cyber crimes inviting frauds and misappropriations are mushrooming due to lack of prompt and proper inspection, the proposal now given under Annexure-C of the Directorate letter under reference to authorize IPs / ASPOs for procurement of PLI / RPLI business will certainly affect their normal / prescribed duties and will stand in the way of the honesty, integrity and goodwill of the Department.

vi.           The GLs should be allotted Code Numbers which may be mapped with Agent Codes of all the agents working under concerned GL to monitor the targets given to D As and to improve the performance of the GLs.

vii.          Selected GLs / DOs from each circle need to be invited by the Directorate periodically to contribute their views for making the system stronger and smarter as they are the right persons with vast marketing experience.  

viii.        The GLs should be deployed preferably in his home division along with neighboring divisions if found justified which will facilitate to procure more business due to their acquaintance over the locality.

ix.           As stated in Para-1 of the Annexure – E of the Directorate letter under reference that sales forces have no direct role in renewal premium collection and after sales service to the customers is not correct. It is an established fact the customers do disturb and contact the person directly through whom they purchase the policy and not to anyone else. Thus, the present structure of trial / renewal commission is required to be continued.

x.            To motivate the CPC officials, the proposed incentive structure as stated in Para-2 of the Annexure – E of the Directorate letter under reference is a welcome step to be accepted.
Encls: As above
 (B. Samal)
Circle Secretary

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