ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പോസ്റല്‍ ഹിസ്റ്ററി

When the Postal facilities were opened to public on 1st April 1774, there were 3 Postal Circles namely Bengal, Bombay and Madras. Bengal was catering whole of Eastern and Northern regions of British Empire. Madras was handling whole of Southern region and the rest was catered by Bombay. In 1839, North West Province Circle was formed and since then, new Postal Circles were formed, as the need was born to have separate Circles.
In December 1860 Punjab Circle, in 1861 Burma Circle, in 1866 Central Province Circle and in 1869 Sind Circle were formed. Till 1880 Oudh (1870), Rajputana (1871), Assam ((1873), Bihar (1877), Eastern Bengal (1878) and Central India (1879) were formed. Since then, new Circles were formed and existing Circles were amalgamated with other Circles.
In 1914, there were only 7 Postal Circles namely - Bengal & Assam, Bihar & Orissa, Bombay (including Sind), Burma, Central, Madras, Punjab & NWF and U. P.By 1937, there were 8 Postal Circles, though Burma was separated from India on 1st April 1937. The Postal Circles were Bengal & Assam, Bihar & Orissa, Bombay, Sindh, Central, Madras, Punjab & NWF and U. P.On 1st April 1946, the British India had the following Postal Circles - Bengal & Assam, Bombay, Madras, United Province, Punjab & NWF, Bihar & Orissa, Central, and Sind & Baluchistan.
After partition, the independent India had the following Postal Circles - Assam, Bengal, Bihar & Orissa, Bombay, Central, East Punjab, Madras and U. P.Today, India have 20 Postal Circles namely - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J & K, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, North Eastern, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Army Postal Service.