Indian Postal System

Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. Indian Post Office was established in 1837, and Indian postal system developed into an extensive, dependable and robust network providing connectivity to almost all parts of India, Burma, the Straits Settlements and other areas controlled by the British East India Company (EIC).The first adhesive postage stamps in Asia were issued in the Indian district of Sind 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”).

On 1st August 1986, the Postal Department introduced “Speed Post” services from 6 centres and later on the service has been extended to many centres. The speed post service has proved its efficiency both in respect of its quality service and earnings.Mail is carried both by surface and air. Besides, postal system, it has the facility of saving bank. It got the facility of recurring deposit, term deposit and public provident fund. A new scheme called Quick Mail Service (QMS) was introduced in 1973. To modernise the handling of growing volume of mail the Postal Index Number (PIN) was introduced in 1972. Pincode system was introduced in India on 15 August 1972 by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar. In 1880 money order service was first started. Indian pincode is six digits long.

India postal services have been growing over the years. Postal services have made remarkable progress during the planning period. The number of post offices in the country has multiplied about four-fold. At the beginning of the First-plan in 1950-51, there were 36,234 post offices. The number has gone up to 1, 54,551 during 2001. The country is at present maintaining the largest network of post offices in the world with its total number of 1.55 lakh at the end of March, 2008, of which more than 1.39 lakh are in rural areas, which ranks first in the world.

Rapid introduction of information technology has not only changed the way post offices do business the world over, but also the business they do. While technology has enabled India post to add value to its traditional postal activities like mail processing, tracing and tracking of consignment etc. it has also offered new opportunities for introduction of various IT-enabled services like money transfer both domestic and international – electronic payment of the bills of various services providers and collection of fees. At present 8,263 computerized post offices in the country serve as an IT backbone of the department. Rural Postal network of India Post has also emerged as an effective delivery mechanism for the Central and the State Government Schemes and Services. The strong IT base has enabled Indian Post to offer a range of e-enabled services such as electronic Money Order (eMO), e-payment and instant Money Order (iMO) to customers. India post is planning to computerise and network all its post offices in the next two years.

However, given the advancements in technology, postal services might have ceased in the past few years when it comes to manual delivery of letters. But nevertheless, it continues to reign as a major department under the Government of India owing to the plethora of services that it provides. with its friendly terms, and easy access, it favours the rural masses when it comes to delivery of letters or it’s function as a financial service provider. What started off as a department to bridge the communication gap that was prevalent, is now the most crucial functioning body under the Government of India. Over the years, it’s essence as “message delivery system” might have ceased, but given the services that it provides under one roof , it remains as the most efficient and organised system among the common mass. It continues to remain true to its motto, “Service before help”.

Srishti Maitra
Intern AGA