The Department of Posts on Tuesday launched two transformative digital platforms: ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ and ‘Know Your PIN Code’, marking a significant step towards the modernisation of India’s addressing system and geospatial governance.

These platforms were launched in alignment with the National Geospatial Policy 2022, which envisions the development of an advanced geospatial infrastructure to support digital governance and public service delivery.

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The DIGIPIN (Digital Postal Index Number) is an open-source, interoperable, geo-coded, grid-based digital address system developed by the Department of Posts in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and NRSC, ISRO. It is a cornerstone of the Department of Posts’ vision to offer Address-as-a-Service (AaaS) — an array of services associated with address data management to support secure and efficient interactions between users, government entities, and private sector organisations.

The ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ initiative simplifies location mapping, enhances logistics and emergency response, and ensures last-mile delivery, especially in rural and underserved areas. The DIGIPIN system, officially reviewed and adopted by the Thematic Working Group on Address under the National Geospatial Policy 2022, is now available to all Ministries, State Governments, institutions for integration into their workflows, and users for their use.

The six-digit PIN Code system, introduced in 1972, has served as the backbone of India’s postal delivery. However, recognising the need to modernise and refine its geographic accuracy, the Department undertook a national geofencing exercise across all postal jurisdictions to geo-reference all the pin code boundaries of the country.

Based on this, the Department of Post has now launched the ‘Know Your PIN Code’ web application, which uses GNSS location features to allow users to identify the correct PIN Code based on the location and submit feedback on PIN Code accuracy for continuous refinement of the PIN Code dataset.