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The British East India Company established post offices in
Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata from 1764-1766, each serving the
Bombay, Madras and Calcutta presidencies. During Warren
Hastings' governorship, postal service was made available to the
general public. A letter would cost 2 annas (one-eighth of a Rupee)
for distances up to 100 miles (160 km). Payments would be done
through copper tokens; a letter was hand stamped "post paid" if
paid for, otherwise it was stamped "post unpaid" or "bearing".
In 1839, North West Province Circle was formed and since then,
new Postal Circles were formed as needed. In December 1860
Punjab Circle, in 1861 Burma Circle, in 1866 Central Province
Circle and in 1869 Sind Circle were formed. By 1880 circles had
been formed in Oudh (1870), Rajputana (1871), Assam (1873),
Bihar (1877), Eastern Bengal (1878) and Central India (1879).
Afterwards, the creation of new circles was accompanied by the
merging of some circles. By 1914, there were only 7 Postal
Circles — Bengal & Assam, Bihar & Orissa, Bombay (including
Sind), Burma, Central, Madras, Punjab & NWF and U.P.
[3]
The usage of the stamps began on 1 July 1852 in Scinde/Sindh
district, with the use of an embossed pattern on paper or wax. The
shape was circular, with "SCINDE DISTRICT DAWK" around the
rim, leading to the common name "Scinde Dawk". 1854 was the
year of the first issue for all of India. The stamps were issued by
the British East India Company, which first printed a 1/2a
vermilion in April but never sold it to the public, then put four
values (1/2a, 1a, 2a, 4a) on sale in October. All were designed and
printed in Calcutta, featuring the usual profile of Queen Victoria. A
new set of stamps, with the queen in an oval vignette inside a
rectangular frame, and inscribed "EAST INDIA POSTAGE", was
printed by De La Rue in England (who produced all the subsequent
issues of British India) and made available in 1855. These
continued in use until after the British government took over