India has taken a significant leap in modernizing its postal and geospatial infrastructure with the launch of two digital platforms—‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ and ‘Know Your PIN Code’—by the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications. The initiative aligns with the National Geospatial Policy 2022, aimed at strengthening digital governance and public service delivery.
DIGIPIN, or Digital Postal Index Number, is an open-source, geo-coded digital address system developed in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and NRSC, ISRO. It offers precise location mapping, enhancing logistics, emergency response, and last-mile service delivery, particularly in rural and underserved areas. The system enables users to retrieve their DIGIPIN using latitude and longitude coordinates, ensuring accurate geographic identification.
The ‘Know Your PIN Code’ web application modernizes the existing six-digit PIN Code system, introduced in 1972, by integrating GNSS location features. Following a national geofencing exercise, the platform now allows users to identify the correct PIN Code based on location and submit feedback for dataset refinement.
Department of Posts Secretary Vandita Kaul emphasized that the initiative will redefine address accuracy, ensuring every citizen is digitally locatable and serviceable, reinforcing India’s role as a global leader in digital public infrastructure. The government has uploaded the geo-referenced PIN Code dataset to the Open Government Data Platform, inviting public participation to refine addressing accuracy and usability.
With these advances, India continues to strengthen its digital economy, modernizing essential services and creating efficient, transparent address management systems to support e-commerce, emergency response, and governance. For direct access:
- Know Your DIGIPIN:
- Know Your PIN Code:
- DIGIPIN GitHub Repository:
- Geo-referenced PIN Code dataset:
