Indian Postal System

• Indian postal service also known as Indian post office is the most widely distributed postal system in the world.
• Indian postal service is run by the Indian government. It is a part of Ministry of communications and information technology.

Important years of Indian postal services:

About Post office:

• The first post office in India was established by British East India company in Bombay in 1764.
• Postage stamps were first used in India in 1852.
• India’s first postal stamp depicted the picture of national flag of India. Mahatma Gandhi was the first person whose picture was depicted on free India’s stamp (1948).
• India is divided into 23 postal circles. Each circle is divided into regions.
• Regions are also further divided into divisions and subdivisions.
• Each circle is headed by chief postmaster general and region is headed by postmaster general.
• On 18 February 1911, world’s first official airmail flight was started. World’s highest post office is located in Hakim, Himachal Pradesh, India.
• Due to the increase of digital services, Indian Post had terminated two important services – Telegram (in 2013) and Money order (in 2015).
• In 2008, Project Arrow was launched to reform the Indian Postal Services to make it more people friendly and digital.
• Beside postal services, Indian post offices also offers different financial services too.

PIN:

• The Postal Index Number (PIN, or PIN code) is a six-digit postal code.
• 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 (APS).
• The PIN system is organized 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 last three digits indicate the delivery post office.

Services provided by Indian post:

India Post provides various services to their customers. These services are categorizing into four main parts.

Services	Description
Mail Services	The main function of India Post is providing Mail Services to their customers. Four phase approach is used by India Post. 1. First phase is collecting the mails. Mails include Letter, Packet, etc. 2. Second phase is to process the collected mails. 3. Third phase is to transmission of the processed mails. 4. Fourth phase is delivery of mails with the help of Postmen.
Premium Products	India post categories some products as premium products. Premium products are as follows 1. Speed Post 2. Media Post 3. Business Post 4. Express Post
Financial Services	1. The financial service includes savings and Life Insurance services. 2. Small savings scheme provides a secure, attractive investment and risk-free options for small investors. 3. The India Post savings bank is the largest and the oldest banking system in the country serving the both urban and rural customers.
Retail Services	Some of the services that retail post offers are as follows 1) Telephone Revenue Collection, Sale of India Telephone Cards 2) e-Ticket for Road, Airline, and Railway services 3) Sale of UPSC, University, CET Exam forms etc. 4) Sale of Passport application forms 5) Sale of Gold Coins, Forex Services, etc.

Interesting Facts:

• The government has decided to digitize 1.5 lakh post offices across the country, which includes 1.3 lakh post offices in rural areas.
• One can buy exclusive collection of postal stamps offered by India Post on e-commerce websites like Snapdeal and Shop clues.
• Through its e-commerce portal, India Post also provides select postal facilities using the web.
• India is one of the earliest active members of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a specialized agency of the United Nations, having its headquarters at Berne, Switzerland.
• There are more than 33.03 crore account holders of the savings scheme of the department.
• To ensure safe and timely delivery of goods, GPS devices have already been installed in 926 mail vans.
• India Post ATMs have been installed in more than 500 locations across the country.
• The department has 38 heritage buildings having architectural value.