| Type | Agency of the Government of India |
|---|---|
| Industry | Postal system |
| Founded | 1764 |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Employees | 520,191 (As of 2007[update])[1] |
| Website | www.indiapost.gov.in |
The Department of Posts (Hindi: भारतीय डाक विभाग Telugu: భారతీయ తంతి తపాలా సంస్థ ) functioning under the brand name India Post (Hindi: भारतीय डाक) , is a government operated postal system in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office".
The Indian Postal Service, with 155,333 post offices, is the most widely distributed post office system in the world.[2] The large numbers are a result of a long tradition of many disparate postal systems which were unified in the Indian Union post-Independence. Owing to this far-flung reach and its presence in remote areas, the Indian postal service is also involved in other services such as small savings banking and financial services.
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The postal service comes under the Department of Posts which is a part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under the Government of India. The apex body of the department is the Postal Service Board. The board consists of a chairman and six members. The six Members of the Board hold portfolios of Personnel, Operations, Technology, Postal Life Insurance, Human Resource Development (HRD) and Planning functions. The Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor to the Board is also a permanent invitee to the Board.
India has been divided into 22 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each Circle is further divided into Regions comprising field units, called Divisions, headed by a Postmaster General. Other functional units like Circle Stamp Depots, Postal Stores Depots and Mail Motor Service may exist in the Circles and Regions.
Besides the 22 circles, there is a special Circle called the Base Circle to cater to the postal services of the Armed Forces of India. The Base Circle is headed by an Additional Director General, Army Postal Service holding the rank of a Major General.
The Indian Postal Services were established in the current format largely under the East India company. It was first established under the name "Company Dawk". In 1688, the first post office of the Company Post was established at Bombay/Madras. The system was reorganized and the service opened to the general public by Warren Hastings, the first governor general of Bengal with supervisory powers over Bombay and Madras, in 1774. A Postmaster General was appointed and metal tickets or tokens were issued to pay for the postal charges. The presidencies of Bombay and Madras followed suit.
In 1835 a Committee was set up for unification of customs and postal system of all the presidencies. The result was the first Indian Post Office Act of 1837. It not only provided for uniform rates and routes but for the uniform designs and other specifications of the postmarks for each category of post office. A Commission was setup in 1850 and submitted its report in 1851 that resulted in the post office act of 1854. Under the provisions of this act, the monopoly of carrying mail in the entire area of British possessions in India were granted to Indian Post office and office of the Director General of Post Offices of India was established. Mr. H P A B Riddle, till then the Postmaster General of North West Presidency, was appointed the first Director General in May 1854.
Adhesive stamps were introduced on 1 October 1854 on all India basis. Meanwhile in 1852 adhesive postage stamps were issued for use within the province of Sind, now in Pakistan. These were the first adhesive postage stamps in Asia.
| Financial performance of postal department | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Gross receipts |
Working expenses |
Surplus /Deficit |
|
|
|||
| 1980-81 | 278 | 346 | −68 |
| 1990-91 | 841 | 1033 | −192 |
| 2000-01 | 3298 | 4848 | −1550 |
| 2001-02 | 3697 | 5109 | −1412 |
| 2002-03 | 4010 | 5374 | −1364 |
| 2003-04 | 4257 | 5632 | −1375 |
| 2004-05 | 4432 | 5814 | −1382 |
| 2005-06 | 5023 | 6233 | −1210 |
| 2006-07 | 4999 | 6378 | −1379 |
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Delivery time is not the same as normal post. It is used when the sender wishes to receive acknowledgement of receipt of post from the addressee
It is an express mail service for letters and documents offered in league with the international EMS service. It was started in August 1986 for providing time-bound and express delivery of letters, documents and parcels across the nation. It links more than 1200 towns in India, with 290 centres in the national network and around 1000 centres in the state network. For regular users, Speed Post provides delivery ‘anywhere in India’ under contractual service.
For corporate customers, Speed Post provides ‘Home collection’, credit facilities, on-line tracking, account management and personalized services. Presently 89 sorting hubs are functioning for fast mail transmission. The mails are transmitted through air,train and roads, and for internal transmission MMS(Mail Motar Service) vehicles are used. The articles addressed to Metro cities may be delivered in next day means booking day + 1(one) day.
It was launched in 2004-05 to carry parcels and large consignments across the nation and around the world. It has no weight limit. It manages the entire distribution side of the logistics infrastructure from collection to distribution, from storage to carriage, from order preparation to order fulfilment. It is ideal for sending large consignments including multi-parcels, just-in-time parcels, bulk-break consignments and goods of any weight. It offers physical logistics services as well as comprehensive supply chain management services.
It is for sending parcels weighing up to 35 kg across and outside the country.
Total pre-mailing solutions including collection/printing, inserting, and addressing are the best.
Advertisements sent by media companies on Post cards, letters, walls of post offices, letter boxes, stationary etc. and received by millions of people.In media post, post office provides the facility for vehicle.
Distribution of advertising materials directly to prospective customers. This mail is posted without address of addressee/addressee(s)and delivered in indicated area either locally or other different destinations. minimum quantity of mails posted is 1000. rates applicable for local Rs.1.50 and other place 2/- per aricle.This mail is ordinary mail.
Postal Life Insurance was started in 1884 as a welfare measure for the employees of Posts & Telegraphs Department under Government of India dispatch No. 299 dated 18-10-1882 to the Secretary of State. Due to popularity of its schemes, various departments of Central and State Governments were extended its benefits. Now Postal Life Insurance is open for employees of all central and state government departments, nationalized banks, public sector undertakings, financial institutions, local municipalities and Zila Parishads and educational institutions aided by the Government.
The most convenient way to pay your bills under one roof. With its tremendous reach and expertise India Post specializes in acceptance of payments across the counter and their consolidation. e-Payment is a ‘Many to One’ service through which bills (telephone, electricity, etc.) paid by customers in post offices are electronically consolidated.
The instant domestic money is available in 717 post offices. However no International Money Order facility is available.
As a result of the collaboration of the Department of Posts with the Western Union Financial Services, state of the art international money transfer service is now available through post offices in India. This enables instantaneous remittance of money from 205 countries to India. The recipients can in fact collect the money in minutes after the sender has made the remittance. The service is targeted to particularly fulfil the needs of NRI dependent families in India, visiting International tourists and foreign students studying in India.
The post office has also traditionally served as a financial institution for millions of people in rural India. Currently these are some of the activities being supported:
It is a unique 6 digit number, shortly known as PIN code. The First digit denotes the Circle and next two digits denote the area and the remaining digits denote the post office. Thus, very fast and accurate postal delivery is possible all over the country. Hence, the public are advised to use PIN code.
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