Every office in India Post’s directory has a "Delivery" or "Non Delivery" flag. A delivery office has postmen who take mail out to addresses. A non-delivery office has counters only: you can post letters, book parcels, pay into savings schemes and buy stamps, but nobody goes out from there to deliver.
In the directory used on this site (data.gov.in, 2021 snapshot), 7,890 of the 157,056 offices are non-delivery. Most of them are sub offices in cities — 6,118 — plus 1,764 branch offices and a handful of head offices.
Why non-delivery offices exist
In dense city centres it is more efficient to sort and deliver from one large office while keeping several small counters open for customers. Government buildings, courts, universities and markets often get their own counter office for convenience, even though the mail for that area is delivered by a bigger office nearby.
The clearest example is PIN code 110001 in central New Delhi. The directory lists 23 offices under it — Parliament House, Supreme Court, Connaught Place, Shastri Bhawan and others — and only one, New Delhi GPO, is marked as a delivery office. All the others are counters.
Does it change the PIN code I write?
Usually not. A non-delivery office normally shares the PIN code of the delivery office that covers its area, so the code on the address is the same either way. Where it matters is when you are working out your PIN code from "the nearest post office". If the office closest to you is a non-delivery counter, the code it uses is still correct for the area, but the postman who brings your mail will come from a different, larger office.
What you can do at a non-delivery office
- Post letters and parcels, including Speed Post and registered post.
- Buy stamps and postal stationery.
- Use Post Office Savings Bank and small-savings schemes, where the office offers them.
- Pay certain bills or use other counter services the office provides.
What you usually cannot do is collect undelivered mail for your home address there. Undelivered articles go back to the delivery office, so that is where you go if the postman left a notice.
How to check whether an office delivers
Each post office page on this site shows a Delivery or Non-delivery badge taken from the directory, and each PIN code page shows how many of its offices deliver. Look up your code through the search or detect it from your location, then open the office list.
The delivery flag reflects India Post’s published data at the time of the snapshot. Delivery arrangements can change, so if a letter keeps going astray, ask at the delivery office for your area.
A quick summary
Delivery offices bring mail to your door; non-delivery offices are counters. Both usually share the PIN code of their area, so the code you write rarely changes. The difference matters when you are tracking down undelivered mail or trying to work out which office actually serves your street.
FAQ
Can a whole PIN code be non-delivery?
Yes, occasionally. A few codes are assigned to institutions or counters where no office under the code delivers to homes. Mail for addresses near them is delivered by an office under a neighbouring code, so check the code for the street, not for the institution next door.
My nearest post office is non-delivery. Where do I collect a missed parcel?
At the delivery office for your area. The notice the postman leaves usually names the office. If it does not, look up your PIN code and find the office marked as a delivery office under it.
Is a non-delivery office less official?
No. It is a full post office for counter services — posting, Speed Post, savings and stamps. It simply has no delivery staff of its own.