50 years of PIN Code System in India
As India celebrated the 75th Independence Day this 15th August; another important piece of history completed its 50 years. Yes, there was another significant development in the country 50 years ago on the same date. On 15th August, 1972, the PIN code system in the country was established. Quite a momentous day to celebrate India’s PIN code history.
There is a lot more to PIN codes than random numbers. Were you ever asked to write the complete PIN code on the envelop that you were trying to post from the GPO or your local post office and perhaps you wondered why you couldn’t just write the last two numbers instead of the entire six digits? Well; if you ever faced such a scenario and didn’t really try to find out the reason for the same then perhaps the following information will finally clarify it.
India’s PIN Code History
The day was 15th August, the year was 1972; when the PIN code system in India was established. It was formulated and introduced to simplify the post delivery system in a country as vast as India. At the time of independence, there were more than 23000 post offices in the country. This figure was set to increase as the country set on the path of development and progress post the independence from the British Rule. Another reason was that it was extremely difficult to sort names mentioned on Indian post where addresses could be in any number of local languages and names of places could be similar too.
The task of introducing the PIN code system was achieved by Shriram Bhikaji; who at that time worked in the Ministry of Communication as an additional secretary.
Brief history
The PIN Code system was introduced in India by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar, who had served as an additional secretary in the Union ministry of communications. Its implementation began from August 15, 1972, with the objective of simplifying the sorting of mails, speeding up mail transmission and delivery.
The need for such a system was realised due to the confusion resulting from the duplication of names of various places across the country, the use of multiple languages to write addresses, and different ways in which the name of a place could be spelt. For example, in Tamil Nadu, names like Mettur and Aathur are very common. PIN codes help postmen deliver the letters to right people.
The PIN (Postal Index Number) consists of 6 digits; each signifying a different feature of the code. The first number indicates the zone; as in north (1,2), south (5,6), east (7.8), and west (3,4); the fifth one being the army zone (9). For instance, 5 is for Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka. And 6 is for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry.
FIRST DIGIT: Postal zone SECOND DIGIT: Sub-zone/ state or Union territory
The first digit indicates postal zones which range from 1 to 9. There are 9 postal zones in India. The postal zones are further divided into sub-regions, which are denoted by the second digit. The sub-regions are often the states or Union territories. It’s indicated as:
THIRD DIGIT: Sorting district
Combined with first two digits, the third one points to specific geographical regions (except in the case of the functional zone for the Army). This geographical region is known as a sorting district, which is headquartered at the main post office of the largest city in the region and is called the sorting office.
FOURTH DIGIT: Service routes
The fourth digit represents the route on which a delivery post office is located within the sorting district. This digit is 0 for offices which are located in the core area of the sorting district. The third and fourth digit combined zoom in on the mail-sorting district within each state.
LAST TWO DIGITS: Individual post 0ffice
The fifth and sixth digits together identify the specific post-office whose jurisdiction the address falls under. Starting from 01, which indicates the General Post Office (GPO) or head office (HO) in the area, this numbering is done chronologically and higher numbers are assigned to newer delivery offices. If the volume of mail handled at a delivery office is very large, a new delivery office is created and the next available PIN is assigned to that office. As a result, any two delivery offices situated next to each other in an area will have the first four digits in common.