> Yet it continues to be 'mandatory' here, and he has a monopoly on serving this market. I don't know if it was mandatory, but I had packages sewn up in Hydera

> Yet it continues to be 'mandatory' here, and he has a monopoly on serving this market. I don't know if it was mandatory, but I had packages sewn up in Hyderabad as recently as a few years ago. There's a bunch of guys who sit outside the GPO that do this. Show your package to the clerk inside before to make sure its kosher, and then the guy will wrap and seal it for 20 rupees.