What were the first postage stamps of Independent India?

Three postage stamps were issued to commemorate India’s independence — all of them featured the date August 15, 1947, and the words ‘Jai Hind’ in the Devanagari script.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 15, 2024 12:38 PM IST

The first stamp, issued in November 1947, depicted the Indian flag — flying in the sky, among clouds. Its denomination was three-and-a-half annas. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

After India gained independence on August 15, 1947, the Indian Post and Telegraph Department wanted to commemorate the occasion by issuing a special stamp. The department, however, could not do so due to the Partition and the required rearrangements and transfer of management.

The first stamp of Independent India was finally released on November 21, 1947. Here is a look at that stamp and a brief postal history of pre-Independent India.

The first stamps of Independent India

Three postage stamps were issued to commemorate India’s independence — all of them featured the date August 15, 1947, and the words ‘Jai Hind’ in the Devanagari script.

The first stamp, issued in November 1947, depicted the Indian flag — flying in the sky, among clouds. Its denomination was three-and-a-half annas.

The other two commemorative stamps were released in December 1947. One of them depicted the Lion Capital of Ashoka — the head of a column erected by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Sarnath in 250 BCE. The stamp carried the image of the sculpture with three Asiatic lions (the fourth being hidden from view), a wheel in relief with a bull on the right and a horse on the left, and a bell-shaped lotus below. It was priced at one-and-a-half annas.

Another stamp of a flying Douglas DC-4 aircraft was priced at 12 annas.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Brief postal history of pre-independent India

Although the Mughals used a communication system known as “dawk” or “dak” — with “horse runners” for speedy deliveries and foot runners for shorter distances — a more formal postal system in India was established with the advent of the East India Company in India.

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Initially, in the 1720s, the company set up a postal service primarily for internal communication. In 1766, then Governor-General Robert Clive set up a regular postal system, and in 1774, Warren Hastings took the initiative of establishing the first GPO (General Post Office) in Calcutta. The Madras GPO opened in 1786, followed by the Bombay GPO in 1794.

The Post Office Act,1837, gave the government the exclusive right to convey letters in the territories of the East India Company. In 1854, uniform postage rates were introduced across the country.

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How Asia’s first stamps were issued in undivided India

In 1852, India became the first country in Asia to issue its own postage stamps. Introduced in the Sindh district and circular in shape, the stamp named “Scinde Dawk” was introduced as part of the postal reforms by the Governor of the district, Sir Bartle Frere.

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Before the introduction of the stamps, postage was paid by the recipient of the letter, who could decline to accept the post. Valued at half anna, Scinde Dawk bore the Merchant’s Mark of the East India Company with a heart-shaped motif divided into three sections, each containing one of the letters EIC, representing the East India Company. The value, half an anna, was written below. Encircling the design was the inscription “Scinde district dawk” in capital letters.

In 1854, the first postal stamps valid throughout India were issued, bearing Queen Victoria’s portrait. The railway mail service was introduced in India in the same year.

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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