A Goa beach walk that sparked a new postal service for India Post

One breezy evening R P Patil, Director, Postal Services (Goa region), was walking on the Arambol beach with his family when something unusual caught his eye. A man, surrounded by parcels, was busy packing items in a small shop.

Curious, Patil stopped to investigate. The man, it turned out, was a Himachal Pradesh native who spent several months in Goa each year collecting parcels from international tourists and dispatching them through private couriers.

TCC Goa's Valley of Flowers trek for Independence Day Weekend

“That’s when it struck me,” Patil recalls. “Why should India Post miss out on this? If there’s a market here, we should be serving it directly.”

That chance encounter planted the seed for a pioneering initiative: a mobile parcel pickup service tailored for international tourists in Goa. Officially launched in January 2025, this service is the first of its kind in India and has already generated over Rs 24.73 lakh in revenue, even in its early stages.

R P Patil, Director of Postal Services (Goa region)That’s when it struck me, Why should India Post miss out on this? If there’s a market here, we should be serving it directly

Goa, known for drawing over 500,000 international visitors annually, has long witnessed tourists buying local handicrafts, textiles, art, and other memorabilia. Many choose to ship these back home, but most rely on private courier services. Sensing this gap, Patil and his team moved quickly.

“We launched a dedicated mobile van from Alto-Porvorim,” says Patil. “Every day, it travels through hotspots like Candolim to Arambol, collecting parcels directly from tourists or local agents working with them. We’ve even created a WhatsApp group that includes hotel reps, shopkeepers, and intermediaries who alert us when there’s a parcel ready for pickup.”

Goa, known for drawing over 500,000 international visitors annually, has long witnessed tourists buying local memorabilia. Many rely on private courier services to ship these back home.

Currently, the service operates with a single pickup van, but there are plans to expand to South Goaby October 2025 with an additional vehicle. The concept is simple but effective—doorstep collection, tracking, and delivery to international destinations through India Post’s International Mail Centre, using business parcel, registered, or speed post services.

“We launched a dedicated mobile van from Alto-Porvorim,” says Patil. “Every day, it travels through hotspots like Candolim to Arambol, collecting parcels directly from tourists or local agents working with them. We’ve even created a WhatsApp group that includes hotel reps, shopkeepers, and intermediaries who alert us when there’s a parcel ready for pickup.”

Take the trails less travelled with these Goan eco explorers

While this pilot project is seasonal, the postal team has begun adapting the service for domestic tourists and small local businesses since foreign tourist inflow dips during Goa’s monsoon. The goal, Patil says, is to make the service year-round, and with the upcoming launch of India Post’s IT 2.0 platform in August, tourists will soon be able to book pickups online directly from their hotel or homestay.

The postal team has begun adapting the service for domestic tourists and small local businesses since foreign tourist inflow dips during Goa’s monsoon.

One Russian tourist who used the service was particularly pleased. “She had trouble with a private courier, and we suggested our service,” Patil says. “She was relieved. It was more transparent and reliable.”

Though India Post is not yet collaborating formally with the Goa Tourism Department, Patil confirms that his office is using tourism data to target key areas. There are also plans to tie up with local artisans, SHGs, and small exporters, helping expand the service’s impact and potentially transforming it into a national model.

Who knew you could have a rocking time at a post office in Porvorim?

“It’s just the beginning,” says Patil. “This could be replicated in other tourist states like Kerala, Himachal, Rajasthan, but Goa had the right mix of demand, logistics, and instinct. And yes, it all began with a simple eveningwalk.”

As India Post rediscovers its relevance in a digital and globalised age, this beach-born innovation might just mark a new wave in tourist-friendly public services. It is a quiet revolution in how India connects with the world, one parcel at a time.

FRANKLY FRANK: Goa too is fighting an internal war

DETAILS

WHAT: India Post doorstep collection and booking through mobile van

CONTACT: Rajesh Madkaikar: +919890701601; Amol Talape: +919021112212; Vivek Deshmukh: +919561912908