The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications. It is the most widely distributed postal system in the world and India is the country that has the largest number of post offices in the world with 164,999 post offices including 149,385 rural post offices and 15,614 urban post offices. It is involved in delivering mail (post), remitting money by money orders, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc.
Apart from delivering services to general public and corporates, India Post is also proud custodian of a rich heritage of postal buildings that echo the historical evolution and architectural grandeur of bygone eras. India Post has declared 44 heritage buildings so far.
Warren Hastings had taken initiative under East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into a service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates (universal service) and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. It created the position Director General of Post for the whole country. The DoP also acts as an agent for the Indian government in discharging other services for citizens such as old age pension payments and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement. With 164,999 post offices (as of March 2025), India Post is the widest postal network in the world.
The country has been divided into 23 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a Postmaster General and comprising field units known as Divisions. These divisions are further divided into subdivisions. In addition to the 23 circles, there is a base circle to provide postal services to the Armed Forces of India headed by a Director General. One of the highest post offices in the world is in Hikkim, At 4,400m above sea level in northern India's remote Spiti Valley, the Hikkim post office is a vital connection to the outside world.
History
Posts and the British Raj (1858–1947) The British Raj was instituted in 1858, when the rule of the East India Company was transferred to the Crown.
A number of acts were enacted during the British Raj to expand and regulate posts and telegraphs service: The Government Savings Bank Act, 1873 (5 of 1873), passed by the legislature 28 January 1873, was enacted in 1881. On 1 April 1882, Post Office Savings Banks opened throughout India (except in the Bombay Presidency). In Madras Presidency, it was limited; in the Bengal Presidency, no POSBs were established in Calcutta or Howrah. Postal life insurance began on 1 February 1884 as a welfare measure for the employees of the Posts & Telegraphs Department as Government of India dispatch No. 299 dated 18 October 1882 to the Secretary of State. The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 The Indian Post Office Act, 1898, passed by the legislature on 22 March 1898, became effective on 1 July 1898 regulating postal service. It was preceded by Act III of 1882 and Act XVI of 1896. The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933
The world's first official airmail flight took place in India on 18 February 1911, a journey of lasting 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, carried about of mail (approximately 6,000 letters and cards) across the Ganges from Allahabad to Naini; included in the airmail was a letter to King George V of the United Kingdom. India Post inaugurated a floating post office in August 2011 at Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. Telegraphy and telephony made their appearance as part of the postal service before becoming separate departments. One unique telegraph office was established and operated in the capital of Lhasa until the People's Republic of China's annexation of Tibet. The Posts and Telegraphs departments merged in 1914, later separated again on 1 January 1985.
After independence in 1947 Since India became independent in 1947, the postal service continues to function on a nationwide basis, providing a variety of services. The structure of the organization has the directorate at its apex; below it are circle offices, regional offices, the superintendent's offices, head post offices, sub-post offices and branch offices. In April 1959, the Indian Postal Department adopted the motto "Service before help"; it revised its logo in September 2008.
The number of post offices was 23,344 when India became independent in 1947 and these were primarily in urban areas. The number increased to 1,64,987 2025 and 90% of these are in rural areas.
Postage-stamp history
First adhesive stamps in Asia
The first adhesive postage stamps in Asia were issued in the Indian district of Scinde in July 1852 by Bartle Frere, chief commissioner of the region. Frere was an admirer of Rowland Hill, the English postal reformer who had introduced the Penny Post. The Scinde stamps became known as "Scinde Dawks"; "Dawk" is the Anglicised spelling of the Hindustani word Dak or ("post"). These stamps, with a value of -anna, were in use until June 1866. The first all-India stamps were issued on 1 October 1854.
Stamps issued by the East India Company
The volume of mail moved by the postal system increased significantly, doubling between 1854 and 1866 and doubling again by 1871. The Indian Post Office Act, 1866 (XIV) introduced reforms by 1 May 1866 to correct some of the more obvious postal-system deficiencies and abuses. Postal-service efficiencies were also introduced. In 1863, lower rates were set for "steamer" mail to Europe at (six annas, eight pies for a -ounce letter). Lower rates were also introduced for inland mail.
New regulations removed special postal privileges enjoyed by officials of the East India Company. Stamps for official use were prepared and carefully accounted for, to combat abuses by officials. In 1854 Spain had printed special stamps for official communications, but in 1866 India was the first country to adopt the expedient of overprinting "Service" on postage stamps and "Service Postage" on revenue stamps. This innovation was later widely adopted by other countries.
Shortages developed, so stamps also had to be improvised. Some "Service Postage" overprinted rarities resulted from abrupt changes in postal regulations. New designs for the four-anna and six-anna-eight-pie stamps were issued in 1866. Nevertheless, there was a shortage of stamps to meet the new rates. Provisional six-anna stamps were improvised by cutting the top and bottom from a current foreign-bill revenue stamp and overprinting "Postage". India was the first country in the Commonwealth to issue airmail stamps.
Post-independence stamps
India attained independence on 15 August 1947. Thereafter, the Indian Posts and Telegraph Department embarked on a broad-based policy for the issuance of stamps. On 21 November 1947 the first new stamp was issued by independent India. It depicts the Indian flag with the patriots' slogan, Jai Hind ("long live India"), at the top right-hand corner. The stamp was valued at three and one-half annas. A memorial to Mahatma Gandhi was issued 15 August 1948 on the first anniversary of independence. One year later a definitive series appeared, depicting India's broad cultural heritage (primarily Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh and Jain temples, sculptures, monuments and fortresses). A subsequent issue commemorated the beginning of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950. Definitives included a technology-and-development theme in 1955, a series depicting a map of India in 1957 (denominated in naya paisa—decimal currency) and a 1965 series with a wide variety of images. The old inscription "India Postage" was replaced in 1962 with "भारत INDIA", although three stamps (issued from December 1962 to January 1963) carried the earlier inscription.Saksena, V. ibid., p. 84.
India has printed stamps and postal stationery for other countries, mostly neighbours. Countries which have had stamps printed in India include Burma (before independence), Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Portugal and Ethiopia.Saksena, V. (1989), pp. 86–8. The country has issued definitive and commemorative stamps. Six definitive series on India's heritage and progress in a number of fields have been issued. The seventh series, with a theme of science and technology, began in 1986. Between independence and 1983, 770 stamps were issued.
Losses
The postal department has always been the biggest loss-making entity in India, surpassing others like the Air India and BSNL, with an annual loss to the exchequer to the tune of ₹15,000 crore in the fiscal year 2019, and amounting to ₹15,541 crore in the calendar year 2020. The following table shows losses incurred by the postal department over the years.
Year Net expenditure (in crores) Revenue (in crores) Loss (in crores) 2010–11 ₹13,075.0 ₹6,962.3 ₹6,113 2011–12 ₹12,075.3 ₹7,899.4 ₹4,175.9 2012–13 ₹14,676.4 ₹9,366.498 ₹5,309.9 2013–14 ₹16,203.52 ₹10,730.42 ₹5,473.10 2014–15 ₹17,894.58 ₹11,635.98 ₹6,258.60 2015–16 ₹18,946.97 ₹12,939.79 ₹6,007.18 2016–17 ₹23,480.95 ₹11,511.00 ₹11,969.95 2017–18 ₹27,977.60 ₹13,084.76 ₹14,892.84 2018–19 ₹27,129.08 ₹13,482.56 ₹13,646.52 2019–20 ₹28,371.34 ₹13,558.2 ₹14,813.14 2020–21 ₹28,327.59 ₹10,632.50 ₹17,695.09 2021–22 ₹29,721.43 ₹10,860.80 ₹18,860.63 2022–23 ₹31456.33 ₹10,917.89 ₹20,538.44 2023–24 ₹34,389.64 ₹11,321.35 ₹23,068.29 2024–25 ₹36,340.45 ₹11,425.24 ₹24,915.20
PIN
The Postal Index Number (PIN, or sometimes redundantly PIN code) is a six-digit postal code. The PIN system was made by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar when he was at service in Kolkata. It was introduced on 15 August 1972 by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. There are nine postal zones in the country; the first eight are geographical regions, and the ninth is reserved for the Army Postal Service (APS905898).
The PIN system is organised in the following way:
The first digit indicates the zone. The first two digits indicate the sub-zone (or postal circle). The first three digits indicate a sorting district. The first four digits indicate a service route. The last two digits indicate the delivery post office.
The PIN for an address may be found on the Postal Service website. There are total of 19,101 PINs covering 164,999 post offices in India, with the exception of the Army Postal Service, 2025.
Digital Address Code Indian Post proposed a 10 digit unique identification number to each and every address in India based on geo coordinates called DIGIPIN. Digital Address Code (DAC) will be assigned to all types of addresses in the country ranging from independent houses, individual building, every flat in the given apartment, every shop in a commercial building and every individual unit in an office complex. Draft approach paper on Digital Address Code was issued by Indian Post for public comments.
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