In May 2025, the Department of Posts (DoP) under the Ministry of Communications (MoC) has launched two transformative web platforms namely, ‘Know Your DIGIPIN (Digital Postal Index Number) ’ and ‘Know Your PIN Code’. This marks a major step towards the modernization of India’s addressing system and geospatial governance.
- Both these newly launched digital initiatives are in alignment with the National Geospatial Policy 2022, which envisions a robust geospatial infrastructure to support digital governance and public service delivery.
About Know Your DIGIPIN Web Application:
i.The DIGIPIN is an open-source, interoperable, geo-coded, grid-based digital address system.
- It is a new geo-coded system that partitions India into 4×4 meter(m) grids, each identified by a unique 10-character alphanumeric code derived from exact latitude and longitude coordinates.
ii.It is developed by the DoP in collaboration with Indian Institute of Hyderabad (IIT-H) and Hyderabad (Telangana)-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), one of the primary centres of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) under the Department of Space (DoS).
iii.It is designed to serve as the foundational tool for Address-as-a-Service (AaaS), supporting efficient interaction between citizens, government agencies, and private enterprises.
iv.It enhances location mapping, enabling better logistics management, improving emergency response times and more-efficient last-mile delivery, especially in rural and remote regions of the country.
v.The ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ platform will allow users to: retrieve their DIGIPIN based on accurate geo-location; input latitude and longitude coordinates to collect corresponding DIGIPINs and vice-versa.
vi.The system, officially reviewed and adopted by the Thematic Working Group on Address under the National Geospatial Policy 2022, is now open for integration by various ministries, state governments, and institutions, with its technical documentation and source code publicly available on GitHub for collaborative development.
About Know Your PIN Code:
i.This new web platform is introduced to modernize the conventional 6-digit postal Postal Index Number (PIN Code) system, launched in 1972.
ii.Following a nationwide geo-fencing exercise conducted by DoP to accurately define all postal jurisdictions, has enabled the users of the platform to identify the correct PIN Code based on real-time Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) location data and submit feedback to enhance the accuracy of PIN Code mapping.
iii.The geo-fenced PIN Code boundary dataset has been published on the Open Government Data platform under the title ‘All India PIN Code Boundary geo-json’.
About Department of Posts (DoP):
India Post, officially known as the Department of Posts (DoP), operates under the Ministry of Communications(MoC). India is divided into 23 postal circles, with each circle overseen by a Chief Postmaster General.
Secretary- Vandita Kaul
Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi
