What is Postal Index Number?

Have you ever thought, why Postal Index Number (PINCODE) is an important part of any address in India. If you don’t then here is the answer.

India is a very large country and it is not possible to recognize places by names. It is because some places have similar name with different region. Hence, the system was introduced to simplify the delivery of mail by eliminating confusion over incorrect addresses, similar place names and different languages used by the public.

The PIN was introduced on August 15, 1972. It is used on Postal address to aid postal delivery. The first of the six digits indicates a region.

First Digit	Region	States Covered
1	Northern	Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir
2	Northern	Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal
3	Western	Rajasthan and Gujarat
4	Western	Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
5	Southern	Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
6	Southern	Kerala and Tamil Nadu
7	Eastern	West Bengal, Orissa and North Eastern
8	Eastern	Bihar and Jharkhand
9	APS	Army Postal Service

There are 9 PIN regions in the country. The first 8 are geographical regions and the digit 9 is reserved for the Army Postal Service. The first two digits together indicate a sub-region.

The first 2 digits of PIN indicate as below:

First 2 Digits of PIN	Sub-Region
11	Delhi
12 and 13	Haryana
14 to 16	Punjab
17	Himachal Pradesh
18 to 19	Jammu & Kashmir
20 to 28	Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal
30 to 34	Rajasthan
36 to 39	Gujarat
40 to 44	Maharashtra
45 to 49	Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
50 to 53	Andhra Pradesh & Telangana
56 to 59	Karnataka
60 to 64	Tamil Nadu
67 to 69	Kerala
70 to 74	West Bengal
75 to 77	Orissa
78	Assam
79	North Eastern
80 to 85	Bihar and Jharkhand
90 to 99	Army Postal Service (APS)