Pin Code/Postal Codes of India

PIN code is a six-digit long code used by the Indian Postal Department. Each digit of a pin code has a specific meaning. The first digit represents the region in India. The second digit is the sub-region, while the third digit is the sorting district. The last three digits represent the particular post office within the district.

There are nine PIN regions in India, out of which eight belong to geographical regions, while the digit 9 is used for the Army Postal Service.

Postal Zones in India

As mentioned above, there are nine postal zones in the country of which eight are regional and one is used for the Indian Army. The first digit of the PIN code designates the zone and is used across the nine zones which are spread across India. Now, let us have a look at the table given below:

Sorting Districts

The third digit of the Postal Code Number along with the first two digits represents the particular geographical except the functional zone and this is known as a sorting district which is headquartered at the main post office of the largest city in the region. Every state has one or more sorting districts that are based on the volume of mail handled in a region.

Service Route

In the sorting district, the fourth digit indicates the route on which a delivery office is situated. For offices in the sorting district's core area, this value is 0.

Delivery Office

The last two digits indicate the delivery office within the sorting district starting from 01 which would be the Head Office (HO) and the General Post Office (GPO). The delivery offices are numbered sequentially, with higher numbers allotted to newer delivery offices. A new delivery office is created and the next available PIN is assigned if the volume of mail handled at a delivery office becomes too large. Thus, two delivery offices located next to two each other will have the first four common digits.

About Indian Postal System

The Postal Department of India is run by the Government of India. This postal system is known as the Post Office of India which comes under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Government of India. India is divided into 22 postal circles and each postal circle is handled by Chief Postmaster General.

Furthermore, each of these postal circles is divided into regions that will be overseen by a Postmaster General, and the regions will be further into divisions, which will be further subdivided into subdivisions.

For a few years, the Postal Department of India has witnessed rapid change and has emerged as the fastest service provider in the country. It penetrates the most remote places of the country and helps people in sending mail at a very minimal price. Apart from mail services, India Post has established itself as one of the nation's small financial institutions, assisting citizens in safely storing their funds.

Postal Services in India

India has more than 1,55,000 branches in various states. It has 89% coverage in rural areas. Indian Postal Department is engaged in performing an important function in rural areas because they act as a bridge between one city or village to another. Apart from mail services, they also offer various banking facilities to the rural population because some of the rural areas still lagging behind in getting the proper banking facilities.

The country's present postal service is roughly 150 years old, and India was the first country to produce stamps in 1854. After some time, the postal services were bought under centralised management. Given below is the list of postal services provided under India Post:

1. Mail services
2. Allied postal services
3. Financial services

Types of Post Services

The following are the various types of post services in India:

Mail Services

India Post offers mail facilities and helps the Indian citizens in sending mail from one place to another. This facility includes insurance of mails, sending mails, and registering mails as security proof.

Allied Postal Services

The postal department of India has the following Allied Postal Services:

1. Aadhar Card: India Post provides Aadhar cards to the citizens of India. The staff of the postal department are provided training to verify the details provided by Aadhar applicants. Once the details of the applicants are verified, the biometric details are captured which include fingerprint scanning and iris scan. The gathered information, along with the application form, would be transmitted to UIDAI, which will issue the individuals with Aadhaar cards.
2. Passport Facilities: Indian citizens can avail of their passports as India Posts have collaborated with the Ministry of External Affairs. Indian citizens who are willing to apply for a passport can fill up the passport forms and submit them to the nearest post offices for further processing.
3. International Money Transfer: People can receive remittances from other nations to India because India Post has collaborated with Western Union Banks.
4. Direct Post: Both addressed and unaddressed direct posts can be used to advertise directly.
5. e-Bill Post: People can pay their utility bills through the help of e-bill postal services provided by the postal department.
6. Media Post: Most of the companies endorse their products using envelopes, postcards, and others through media posts.
7. Speed Post: People can send mails to others in a short time as compared to normal posts through speed post services.
8. Greeting Post: Greeting post is sent to the beloved ones on special occasions like anniversary or birthday.

Financial Services

The postal department of India offers various financial services to the public such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), Kisan Vikas Patra (KSV), National Savings Certificates (NSC), etc. Apart from this, it also offers several conventional schemes that perform similar functions to that of Indian banking institutions such as money order facilities, fixed deposit accounts, etc. The biggest difference between both of these is the rate of interest. The fixed deposit facility of Indian post offices provides higher interest rates as compared to fixed deposits offered by banks