India has a long and varied postal history and has produced a large number of postage stamps. These have been produced by a variety of techniques including line engraving, typography, lithography, photogravure and web-offset. Stamps have been produced both for postage and for service or revenue. Definitives and commemoratives have been issued. Stamps have been produced both as unperforated sheets, perforated and miniature sheets. The stamps have been produced in a number of shapes – the Scinde Dawk being rounded and some, like the stamp on the Bombay Sappers being triangular. Recently the 2009 stamp on Louis Braille had braille imprinting on it in addition. Many cases of overprinting exist – for converting the use of domestic postage stamps to service; to earmark stamps sold by field post offices attached with international control commissions and other reasons.
The Indian Postal Service has issued stamps on many themes – relating to history, architecture, nature, culture and heritage. Provisions exist for organisations and interested bodies to suggest the printing of special commemorative stamps as well as first day covers and cancellations. The Indian Post runs philatelic bureaus, operates deposit based philatelic services, a philatelic magazine and also publishes lists of stamps from time to time.
The article lists the stamps in two sections – Indian postage before and after independence. Stamps belonging to convention and feudatory states have been excluded.
The Mughal India utilized a communication system called “dawk” or “dak,” which employed horse runners for swift deliveries and foot runners for shorter distances. However, a more formal postal system in India began under the East India Company. In the 1720s, the Company established a postal service mainly for internal communication. Governor-General Robert Clive initiated a regular postal system in 1766, and in 1774, Warren Hastings founded the first General Post Office (GPO) in Calcutta. This was followed by the establishment of the Madras GPO in 1786 and the Bombay GPO in 1794.[1]
The Post Office Act of 1837 granted the government the exclusive right to transport letters within the East India Company’s territories. In 1852, India became the first Asian country to issue its own postage stamps with the introduction of the “Scinde Dawk” in the Sindh district, a circular stamp created as part of postal reforms led by Sir Bartle Frere.[2] Before this, postage was paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery. The Scinde Dawk, valued at half an anna, featured the East India Company’s Merchant’s Mark with a heart-shaped motif divided into three sections, each containing the letters “EIC,” and the value inscribed below. The outer ring bore the inscription “Scinde district dawk.” Uniform postage rates were introduced nationwide in 1854. In 1854, British India issued its first nationwide postal stamps featuring the portrait of Queen Victoria.[3]
Though British rule in India began effectively in the mid-nineteenth century i.e.1860s, the first adhesive stamp was issued in 1852, 12 years after the first Penny Black was issued in England. This was the Scinde Dawk. It was followed by the East India company lithographed issues and a long series of engraved stamps portraying Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, King George V, and King George VI.
India's independence saw the postal department issue its first stamp on 21 November 1947 depicting the Indian flag. The Dominion of India issued stamps from 1947 to 1949 with the caption of INDIA POSTAGE. In 1950, India became a republic and the first stamps of India as a republic were a series of four issued on that very day. The stamp issues continued to be in Annas (abbreviated as "As") until 1957, when the Indian rupee was decimalised: the rupee was divided into 100 naye paise (Hindi for "new paise"). In 1964, the initial "naye" was dropped. This change in currency is faithfully reflected in the denomination of the stamps of the time. The initial stamps were commemorative or special issues. In 1949 the first definitive "Archeological" series of 16 values was issued.
There are six types[4] postal stamps are in circulation in India:
A miniature sheet is a small group of stamps that are still attached to the sheet on which they are printed. They could be regular issues or commemorative ones as well. They could be individual designs as well with special illustrations on the sheet. Several miniature sheets have been issued by India which portrays different aspects of the nation's identity like famous personalities, important events, art and culture, history, monuments etc.
'My Stamp' is the brand name for personalized sheets of postage stamps of India Post. The personalization is achieved by printing a thumb nail image of the individual photograph and logos of institutions, or images of artwork, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities, wildlife, other animals and birds etc., on a selected template sheet having postage stamps. 'My Stamp' was first introduced in India during the World Philatelic Exhibition, ‘INDIPEX-2011’. This scheme is available in selected Philatelic Bureaux and counters/ Important Post offices/Post Offices situated at tourist places.