India Post, previously known as the Department of Post, is a government-operated postal system in India, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Communications. Generally called "the Post Office" in India, that is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings had taken initiative under the East India Company to start the Postal Service in the country in 1766. It was initially established under the name "Company Mail". It was later modified into service under the Crown in 1854 by Lord Dalhousie. Dalhousie introduced uniform postage rates (universal service) and helped to pass the India Post Office Act 1854 which significantly improved upon the 1837 Post Office act which had introduced regular post offices in India. 

 

India Post is involved in delivering mail (post), send (money) in payment or as a gift by money orders, accepting deposits under Small Savings Schemes, providing life insurance coverage under Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI), and providing retail services like bill collection, sale of forms, etc. The DoP also acts as an agent for the Indian government in discharging other services for citizens such as old age pension payments and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wage disbursement with 154,965 post offices (as of 31.03.2017), India Post has the most widely distributed postal network in the world.

 

The country has been divided into 23 postal circles, each circle headed by a Chief Postmaster General. Each circle is divided into regions, headed by a Postmaster General and comprising field units known as Divisions. These divisions are further divided into subdivisions. In addition to the 23 circles, there is a base circle to provide postal services to the Armed Forces of India headed by a Director-General. One of the highest post offices in the world is in Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh operated by India Post at an altitude of 14,567 ft (4,440 m).