With around 155,618 post offices and over 566,000 employees, India has the largest postal network in the world. The modern postal service in India is more than 150 years old.
Post offices are spread around the country; they play a vital role in rural areas and provide many facilities like general or registered mail, parcel post, speed post, express post, e-post and special courier service known as EMS-speed post. They also offer a number of post office savings schemes like National Savings Certificate, Kisan Vikas Patra, Recurring Deposits and Term Deposits.
In 1854, the post office in the province of Sindh (then in British India) made postal history when India became the first country to issue postage stamps.
In 1911, India achieved another "first" when a biplane from Allahabad to Naini flew with 6500 pieces of mail. The world's first official airmail flight took place in India, on February 18th of mentioned year. It was a journey that spanned 18 kilometres and lasted 27 minutes. Henri Pequet, a French pilot, ferried around 15 kilos of mail. A special postmark, First Aerial Post, was created for the event.
Today, Indian postal system ranges from arid deserts of Rajasthan and Kutch to the icy heights of Laddakh. India has the highest post office in the world in Sikkim at a height of 15,500 feet (postal code - 172114).
Eva REÑÉ BAÑERES, April 15th 2011