What is PIN Code? History, Significance, Facts & More

Letters have been the most ancient mode of communication for major parts of India, Egypt, Sumer, Rome, Greece and China. But have you ever thought how these confession papers reach the right location ? Well, the correct answer is through designated PinCode. And with the 75th year of Independence, the Postal Index Number introduced by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar also turned 50.

The Postal Service’s PIN code was introduced in India on August 15, 1972. The six-digit code is used to send couriers, letters and other postal items across the country. Read the complete article to know about the What, When, Where, Why and How about the miraculous six-digit postal code.

What is Pincode?

The full form of PIN Code is Postal Index Number. Introduced on 15th August 1972, it is used by the postal service of India to segregate the locations. The area postal code comprises 6 digits, with each digit denoting a particular meaning.

The PinCode system in India was introduced by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar. The sanskrit scholar Velankar was the additional secretary in the Union Ministry of Communications and a senior member of the Posts and Telegraph Boards.

Why was Pin Code needed?

India is one among the countries with the biggest postal network over the globe. It has around 1.5 lakh post offices across the country. The process of sorting and delivering mails turned chaotic due to similar names in the different cities or because of language barriers. So, to ease up the process, the pin code system was introduced.

The country was divided into 9 geographical areas and the pin codes were allotted accordingly. Out of which, one point was reserved exclusively for Army Postal Service.According to Postal department, a total of 19101 pins have been alloted in the country.

How does the Postal Index Number work?

The Postal Index Number comprises a total of 6 digits. Valid all over the country, all digits stand for different information. The first digit stands for postal region, for example East, West, North or South. The second digit denotes the sub-region, and the third region represents the sorting district. Whereas, the remaining numbers narrow the geography further to provide information about the location of the post office. 

Later on, these parcels, pincode, letters and goods are delivered to the post office or courier agencies on the basis of pincode segregation. And from here all these are moved forward to the recipient address.

Who was the person behind Pincode?

The sanskrit scholar and poet Shri Ram Bhikaji is known as the father of Postal Index Numbers. It was his idea to implement Pincode in the country for better segregation of posts and letters.  While working as an additional secretary in the Ministry of Communication and also as a senior member of Telegraph board he felt the dire need of a system to improve the efficiency of the Indian Postal System.Bhikaji created such a strong system through pincode, which turned out to be a boon to deliver things anywhere in the country.

Bhikaji's contribution does not just end with the upliftment of the postal services. He wrote 105 books in Sanskrit and his play “Viloma Kavya’ is still called a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature. The chairman of the World Philatelic Exhibition held in Delhi, Bhikaji also won many awards and laurels for his extraordinary works and achievements.

However the era of letters is bygone but the prominence of pincode is still the same over GPS.Do not forget to enter the right pincode while making online orders of food or anything else to get early deliveries.