What is DIGIPIN, India’s new high-tech address system from Dept of Posts?

The Ministry of Communications this week announced the release of a comprehensive policy document titled DHRUVA, or the Digital Hub for Reference and Unique Virtual Address. While this policy lays out the framework for advancing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), the highlight is the launch of the Digital Postal Index Number or DIGIPIN by the Department of Posts.

Simply put, DIGIPIN is a new addressing system based on your geographic location. It is an open-source, nationwide, geocoded solution developed by the Department of Posts in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO.

The new addressing system divides India into square grids of 4-metre length and breadth. Each grid is then assigned a unique 10-character alphanumeric code based on latitude and longitude.

“While a regular postal address depends on locality, street, and house numbers, DIGIPIN is a geospatial reference using a 10-character alphanumeric code based on the exact coordinates of a location,” states the Posts department.

DIGIPIN serves as the nerve centre of the DHRUVA initiative, which the ministry envisions as a “standardised, interoperable, and geocoded digital addressing system that supports secure, consent-based, and seamless sharing of address information.”

The Government calls this service Address-as-a-Service (AaaS) or an “array of services associated with address data management to support secure and efficient interactions between users, government entities, and private sector organisations.”

With DIGIPIN, the Centre looks to make address information part of ‘foundational public infrastructure’. According to the ministry, this move is “vital for effective governance, inclusive service delivery, and enhanced user experience”.

Moreover, the DHRUVA initiative also looks to create a collaborative ecosystem where public and private stakeholders co-create user-centric solutions, says the ministry. Governance, e-commerce, logistics, and financial inclusion all get a bit easier with accurate addressing systems.

Privacy concerns of DIGIPIN

DIGIPIN is new, and it is open source. This system also brings with it reasonable questions on privacy. However, according to the Department of Posts, there is absolutely no reason to worry.

DIGIPIN is just another form of stating the latitude and longitude of a location, encoded into a 10-character alphanumeric address. In its essence, DIGIPIN does not store any private or personal data.

Moreover, DIGIPIN simplifies the process of address management. This is more useful in regions with ‘unstructured or changing addresses’.

“It also helps in areas where no clear address exists, such as rural regions, forests, and oceans,” according to the Department of Posts.

Postal Pincode vs DIGIPIN

Most Indians are familiar with a postal pincode. However, the pincode identifies a much broader area, like a locality or neighbourhood. In contrast, DIGIPIN refers to a 4m x 4m grid, making it much more precise.

For now, DIGIPIN is applicable only within an area that covers the geographical boundaries of India, including maritime regions. This means between longitudes 63.5 degrees east and 99.5 degrees east and latitudes 2.5 degrees north and 38.5 degrees north. The system also works for rural and remote regions—even places without a traditional address, like forests and water bodies.

This means that DIGIPIN could provide precise locations to help emergency services reach the exact spot faster, especially in disaster-prone regions or remote areas.

But does this mean that you no longer need traditional addresses? “No, your postal address remains the same,” states the Department of Posts, “DIGIPIN is an additional layer of digital addressing that complements the existing system for more precise and standardised location identification. But as the DIGIPIN ecosystem expands into more sectors and is integrated with more GIS systems, the need for providing a descriptive postal address to service agencies for availing any service may reduce.”

How to find your DIGIPIN

Ideally, to find your DIGIPIN, you need a GNSS device to find your exact latitude and longitude, which can then be converted into a DIGIPIN. However, the Department of Posts has developed a web application, which lets the public fetch the corresponding DIGIPIN of their location.

They also have put the programming code for DIGIPIN logic on Github, in a bid to make the entire system open source.

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), address infrastructure is an important factor for society’s functioning since “addresses can help in the development, support, and implementation of critical national policies”. Despite India’s rapid digitisation and urbanisation, address data remained an underexplored domain. The Centre looks to rectify this with the DHRUVA initiative and the rollout of DIGIPIN as addresses form a primary enabler of development.

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