Postal Index Number

A Postal Index Number (PIN), or PIN code,[note 1] refers to a six-digit code in the Indian postal code system used by India Post. On 15 August 2022, the PIN system celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

History

The PIN system was introduced on 15 August 1972 by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar, an additional secretary in the Government of India's Ministry of Communications.[1][2][3] The system was introduced to simplify the manual sorting and delivery of mail by eliminating confusion over incorrect addresses, similar place names, and different languages used by the public.[4]

PIN structure
An example of a Postal Index Number from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. 4 indicates the West postal zone, 5 indicates a postal sub-zone in Madhya Pradesh, 6 indicates the Ujjain sorting district, 0 indicates the Ujjain core area service route, 01 indicates the Ujjain Head Office as the delivery office.

Postal zones

There are nine postal zones in India, including eight regional zones and one functional zone (for the Indian Army). The first digit of a PIN indicates the zone and is allocated over the 9 zones as follows:

1st digit of PIN Zone States or Union Territories
1xxxxx North Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh
2xxxxx North Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand
3xxxxx West Rajasthan, Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli
4xxxxx West Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
5xxxxx South Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
6xxxxx South Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep
7xxxxx East West Bengal, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Sikkim
8xxxxx East Bihar, Jharkhand
9xxxxx APS Army Postal Service (APS), Field Post Office (FPO)

Sorting district
2-digit postcode areas in India (defined through the first two PIN digits)

The third digit of a PIN, combined with the first two digits, represents a specific geographical region (except in the case of the functional zone for the Army) called a sorting district that is headquartered at the main post office of the largest city in the region and is known as the sorting office. A state may have one or more sorting districts depending on the volume of mail handled.

PIN prefix ISO 3166-2:IN Region
11xxxx IN - DL Delhi
12xxxx – 13xxxx IN - HR Haryana
14xxxx – 15xxxx IN - PB Punjab
16xxxx IN - CH Chandigarh
17xxxx IN - HP Himachal Pradesh
18xxxx – 19xxxx IN - JK, IN - LA Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh
20xxxx – 28xxxx IN - UP, IN - UT Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand
30xxxx – 34xxxx IN - RJ Rajasthan
36xxxx – 39xxxx (except 396xxx) IN - GJ Gujarat
396xxx IN - DH Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
40xxxx – 44xxxx (except 403xxx) IN - MH Maharashtra
403xxx IN - GA Goa
45xxxx – 48xxxx IN - MP Madhya Pradesh
49xxxx IN - CT Chhattisgarh
50xxxx IN - TG Telangana
51xxxx – 53xxxx IN - AP Andhra Pradesh
56xxxx – 59xxxx IN - KA Karnataka
60xxxx – 66xxxx (except 605xxx) IN - TN Tamil Nadu
605xxx IN - PY Puducherry
67xxxx – 69xxxx (except 682xxx) IN - KL Kerala
682xxx IN - LD Lakshadweep
70xxxx – 74xxxx (except 737xxx & 744xxx) IN - WB West Bengal
737xxx IN - SK Sikkim
744xxx IN - AN Andaman and Nicobar Islands
75xxxx – 77xxxx IN - OR Odisha
78xxxx IN - AS Assam
790xxx – 792xxx IN - AR Arunachal Pradesh
793xxx – 794xxx IN - ML Meghalaya
795xxx IN - MN Manipur
796xxx IN - MZ Mizoram
797xxx – 798xxx IN - NL Nagaland
799xxx IN - TR Tripura
80xxxx – 85xxxx IN - BR, IN - JH Bihar, Jharkhand
90xxxx – 99xxxx IN - APS Army Postal Service

Service route

The fourth digit represents the route on which a delivery office is located in the sorting district.[4] This is 0 for offices in the core area of the sorting district.

Delivery office
A post box with its PIN marked on it

The last two digits represent the delivery office within the sorting district starting from 01 which would be the General Post Office (GPO) or Head office (HO). The numbering of the delivery office is done chronologically with higher numbers assigned to newer delivery offices. If the volume of mail handled at a delivery office is too large, a new delivery office is created and the next available PIN is assigned.[5] Thus, two delivery offices situated next to each other will only have the first four digits in common.

Delivery system

Each PIN is mapped to exactly one delivery post office which receives all the mail to be delivered to one or more lower offices within its jurisdiction, all of which share the same code. The delivery office can either be a General Post Office (GPO), a head office (HO), or a sub-office (SO) which are usually located in urban areas. The post from the delivery office is sorted and routed to other delivery offices for a different PIN or to one of the relevant sub-offices or branch offices for the same PIN. Branch offices (BOs) are located in rural areas and have limited postal services.[6]

Notes
  1. Sometimes incorrectly written as "Pin code", "Pincode", "PINcode", or "pincode".

References
  1. India. Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. 1974. p. 305. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  2. "Mails section". Indian government postal department. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  3. "Using pincode, maps to trace address". timesofindia.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016.
  4. "Tamilnadu Postal Circle – Pincode". tamilnadupost.nic.in. Archived from the original on 20 July 2014.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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