FIRST POSTAGE STAMP IN INDIA and AFTER INDEPENDENCE INDIA

FIRST POSTAGE STAMP IN INDIA

India’s so called first stamp was released in 1852. They were embossed individually onto paper. The shape was circular, with ‘SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK’ around the rim and the British East India Company’s Merchant’s Mark.

The use of the Scinde Dawk adhesive stamps to signify the prepayment of postage began on 1 July 1852 in the Scinde/Sindh district, as part of a comprehensive reform of the district's postal system. A year earlier Sir Bartle Frere had replaced the postal runners with a network of horses and camels, improving communications in the Indus river valley to serve the military and commercial needs of the British East India Company.

The new stamps were embossed individually onto paper or a wax wafer. The shape was circular, with "SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK" around the rim and the British East India Company's Merchant's Mark as the central emblem. The paper was either white or greyish white. The blue stamp was printed onto the paper by the die during the embossing, while the wax version was embossed on a red sealing wax wafer on paper; but all had the same value of 1/2 anna.

FIRST POSTAGE STAMP IN INDIA AFTER INDEPENDENCE

TheFirst Stamp of Independent Indiawas issued on 21 November 1947. It depicts theIndian Flagwith the patriots' slogan,Jai Hind(Long Live India), on the top right hand corner. It was valued at three and one-halfannas.