What is PIN Code:

Postal Index Number or Pincode is the numbering system used by Indian post department. Indian Postal Index Number or Pin Code is 6 Digits long number. The first digit of pin code indicates zone or region, the Second digit indicates sub-region or sub-zone, the third combined with the first two digit indicates sorting district within that zone. The final three digits are assigned to individual post offices within the sorting district.

History of Pin Code:

Indian PIN Code (Postal Index Number) was introduced on 15th August 1972 by Union Ministry of Communications. Pin Code system was introduced to simplify the manual sorting process and mail delivery across the India. Before introduction of PIN there were always confusion occured over incorrect addresses, similar place names, and different languages used across the states of India.

PIN Code Structure:

The first digit of pin code indicates zone, the Second digit indicates sub-zone, the third combined with first two indicates sorting district within that zone. The last three digits are assigned to individual post offices within the sorting district.

Postal Zones In India:

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 listed below:

Sorting Districts In India:

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

Service Route:

The fourth digit of pin code represents the route on which a delivery office is located in the sorting district. If that digit is 0 means offices are in the core area of the sorting district.

Delivery office:

The last two digits of the pin code represent the delivery office within the sorting district. Last two digit of pin code starts from 01 onwards which is General Post Office (GPO) or head office (HO). The numbering of the delivery office is done chronologically and 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. Thus, two delivery offices situated next to each other will only have the first four digits in common.