India Post - Indian Postal Service

 

The Department of Posts,trading asIndia Post, is a Government operated Postal System in India; it is generally referred to within India as "the post office"

The postal service is under the Department of Posts, which is part of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Govt of India

On average, a post office serves an area of 21.23 square kilometres (8.20 sq mi) and a population of 7,114; it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world

The highest post office in the world is in Hikkim, Himachal Pradesh, India at a height of 15,500 ft (4,700 m) (postal code 172114)

The apex body of the department is the Postal Service Board, consisting of a chair and six members. The six board members govern personnel, operations, technology, postal life insurance, human-resource development (HRD) and planning. The joint secretary and financial adviser is also a permanent invitee. India has been divided into 22 postal circles, each circle headed by a chief postmaster general. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a postmaster general and comprising field units known as divisions (headed by SSPOs and SPOs). These divisions are further divided into subdivisions, headed by ASPs and IPOs.

As of 31 March 2011, the Indian Postal Service had 154,866 Post Offices of which 139,040 (89.78 percent) were in rural areas and 15,826 (10.22 percent) in urban areas

 It had 25,464 departmental Post Offices and 129,402 Extra-Departmental Branch Post Offices

At the time of independence, there were 23,344 post offices, primarily in urban areas. The network has registered a sixfold growth since independence, with the expansion's focus primarily in rural areas