Rakesh Kumar (left) and Anil Kumar launch the personal accident policy in Ranchi. Pix: Hardeep Singh

Jamshedpur/Ranchi, Feb. 17: If you are thinking of investing in insurance schemes or buying healthcare products, try out your nearest post office.

The diversification of services is way the postal department is using to beat the mounting losses.

With the launch of another insurance policy scheme in the national capital ? launched by the Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL) ? the Jharkhand department of posts has become a one-stop shop for multiple financial services.

Today?s scheme is the 16th insurance policy being launched by the postal department in collaboration with OICL. The personal accident policy, launched by chief regional manager of OICL Rakesh Kumar (Bihar and Jharkhand), can be availed of by any person with a post office savings account. The account holder would have to pay just Rs 15 per annum to subscribe for the accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.

The personal accident policy would cover accidental death of an individual who has an account in the post offices and who applies for it. T

The post office has earlier offered several schemes with the collaboration of the Oriental Insurance and UTI.

There is, of course, more on offer.

Apart from the usual heaps and bundles of competition post cards and sealed envelopes, there will also be sealed contraceptives and ORS drops for sale. The products will be manufactured by Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL), which is the latest company to have signed a deal with the post office.

?We have incurred huge losses in revenue over the years and this has been a consistent handicap. This is the only way out to counter the mammoth revenue losses,? said B.K. Nag, the senior superintendent of post offices, Singhbhum division.

As many as 336 post offices spread throughout the three districts of East and West Singhbhum and the Seraikela-Kharsawan district would start selling the products as soon as they receive the first supplies from HLL.

On offer would be a mix of diverse products, including sanitary napkins, oral pills, condoms and contraceptives along with ORS drops for children at subsidized rates.

?As the products are meant to be made mostly accessible to the rural masses, the rates have been kept lower than the usual market rates. The pregnancy test kits will be sold for as less as Rs 45, the basic idea behind it being an attempt to popularise their use in the remote areas,? added Nag.