As Raksha Bandhan nears, demand for urgent delivery of rakhis surges

“These envelopes help slot the rakhi deliveries as urgent. The day a rakhi reaches the post office of the intended city, it is immediately slotted and delivered to the recipient on the same day,” said Jotiram Mali, assistant postmaster, Pune General Post Office.

“All these rakhi-special envelopes are plastic-coated to protect the rakhi from getting wet due to rain and or from items such as sugar and lump sugar, which most people keep along with the rakhi,” he said.

Those who choose to make their own envelope are requested to mark it on the envelope for it to be slotted for urgent delivery.

Sangeeta Deshmukh, who sends rakhis every year to Jammu and Gujarat from the Pune GPO, said, “It is a very old practice of sending rakhis through post. You always feel guaranteed that your rakhi will reach,” she said.
Floweraura, a gifting brand in India, also has a demand of around 250 to 300 one-day rakhi deliveries in Pune everyday.

They have specially designed hand-curated hampers for Raksha Bandhan and eco-friendly rakhis and kundan rakhis in their collection. “We have seen a rising demand for last-minute rakhi orders, so this year we have set up local hubs for same day delivery across 6000+ PIN codes in India,” said Deepakshi Agarwal, deputy manager, social media and brand, Floweraura. “Urgency does stand out but, apart from that, it’s the personalised messages that have the maximum number of requests,” she said.

Students of the Shri Shivaji Preparatory Military Primary Day School, Kennedy road, sent around 130 rakhis in rakhi special envelopes through the Pune GPO to Indian soldiers. “These are sent in a special bag to the Army office and distributed among the soldiers,” said Mali.