Kochi: AI will now help in sorting letters and parcels in the Indian Postal Department. The extensive digital renovation will start on July 7. The updation will be completed within three months.

The project, which aims to provide faster and better service to the people, was approved by the central government in January 2022 for eight years of work with an amount of Rs 5,785 crore.

Postal and parcel products will be received faster, India Post Savings Bank services will be made more transparent, and it will be possible to know exactly where the registered, speed post and parcels sent have reached.

The method of using artificial intelligence to search, pick up and deliver letters to the correct address is being implemented in large cities. The optical character recognition system can be used to understand handwritten addresses. If the details of the area where the postman travels are added to the computer, the letters and other items in that area can be grouped together.

At the same time, human work is not completely eliminated. Chatbot support will also be included in this digital transformation.

There are 1,54,965 post offices in the country, 87 per cent of which are in rural areas. Mobile systems have been deployed in these post offices for postal, financial, and insurance transactions.