India Post Stamps 2000-2018

Update (20 Jan 2019): It had been a while since I'd updated this post, especially total number of India Post stamps etc from 2017 were still pending. Given the massive number of stamps and philatelic products, I was somewhat unsure about categorizing some of the stamps. The tally is finally complete, including last year, which was another blockbuster with 117 commemorative stamps. I've further expanded the MyStamp list to split personalize and customized/corporate MyStamp sheetlets. These products have been evolving over the last few years, and I thought it best to separate the two. If there's any confusion or clarification needed, please let me know in the comments below. Hope this list helps shed some light on the trends in India philately.

Update (06 Feb 2017): Here's an update to the count of total commemorative/MyStamps, which now includes totals from 2016 as well. There was a huge increase in the cost of stamps and sheetlets issued last year along with the introduction of customized MyStamps sheetlets. Do check lists of se-tenant stamps and MyStamps for further details.

Update (15 May 2016): Given that so many MyStamp sheetlets have been released in 2016, it was considered prudent to separate MyStamp sheetlets. Pricing for MyStamps are not fixed so, the lowest known price will be included going forward.

Original Post (29 Jan 2016): Here's a count of commemorative and special postage stamps issues by India Post from 2000 to 2015. For the reader's reference the list also shows face value of the stamps. If there are errors in the list below, just leave a comment.

Note:
1. Definitive stamps are not included.
2. MyStamps have all been issued in Sheetlet format and are included in the Sheetlet count. Each MyStamp is valued at Rs 25 because that appears to be the most common retail price for these personalized/customized stamps.
3. Each se-tenant stamp issue is counted only once (even if multiple se-tenants can be formed from a given issue). For e.g. Social & Political leaders stamp from 2000 was available in strip and block se-tenant formats, but is only counted as one.
4. Souvenir sheets and Siamese Twin issues are included in Miniature sheets as well.

France-India: Joint Stamp Issues

Other than Russia, South Africa and Iran, France is the only other country to have issued two or more joint stamp issues with India.

The joint issue in 2003 (released on 29th November) showed identical designs, one each from India and France. India's national bird peacock and a rooster from France were selected to be shown on the stamps. The stamps were considered to deliver a message of renewal through these significant birds and the artwork in myriad of colors. I've been searching for the source of these designs for a couple of weeks, but I've finally managed to get accurate information for both the stamp images.

The stamp from France depicts a 15th century artwork in the Book of Hours (Heures a l'usage de Rome in French) created in Provence, France. Two artists, Barthelemy d'Eyck (also known as the Master of the Annunciation of Aix-en-Provence) and Enguerrand Quarton (1410-1466) illustrated this book consisting of 225 leaves, 10 large miniatures and 24 calendar illustrations. Book of Hours is Christian prayer book that was particularly popular in the middle ages. This French Book of Hours contains several illustrations showing months and zodiac signs. The rooster depicted on the stamp was likely done by d'Eyck. This book is currently in Morgan Library's collection in New York City. See an image of the page from this book below.

The stamp design from India shows peacock from the back of a 19th century Sarpech jewelry (turban ornament). This handmade sarpech used gold and precious stones done in an intricate art form called Minakari. Minakari was developed and promoted during the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's rule, and used gems and precious stones, and enamels to make jewelry, royal thrones etc. Minakari is still used to make jewelry, especially in Jaipur and uses flowers, plants, and animal forms as the main design elements. The sarpech shown on the stamp is likely a 19th century piece from Rajasthan, which consists of three clusters, a hexagonal center piece and two rectangular pieces, each showing chrysanthemum flowers and a peacock.

Indian stamp was designed by Kamleshwar Singh and was printed in sheetlets of 8 se-tenant pairs along with miniature sheets containing both the stamps. La Poste of France printed individual stamps in sheets of 30 each, which were designed by Claude Jumelet. I've seen the date of issue in France shown as 01st December, but that's the general sale date, and the first day issue date remains the same in both the countries.

France-India joint stamp issue from 2003

After 12 years of the first collaboration, India and France celebrated 50 years of cooperation in space science by issuing another joint stamp. The stamps, again one from each country, showed two satellites - Megha-Tropiques and SARAL, on one stamp each. India's space agency ISRO and France's CNES have cooperated in space research since an early agreement in 1964 to build and launch sounding rockets in India. Increased cooperation eventually led to launch of the Megha-Tropiques satellite in 2011 and SARAL in 2013.

Megha-Tropiques launched in October 2011 was intended to study water cycle and energy exchanges in the tropics. The satellite is expected to provide insight into the contribution of the water cycle to the tropical atmosphere. The main aim appears to be to understand life cycle of convective systems that influence tropical climate and their role in energy and moisture budget of the atmosphere in the tropical regions.

SARAL or the Satellite with ARgos and ALtika payloads was launched in February 2013 to study ocean circulation and sea surface elevation. The two main payloads were built by CNES along with one from ISRO. The satellite launched using ISROs' PSLV rocket will help in marine meteorology, climate and environmental monitoring, sea state and seasonal forecasting, oceanography, earth systems and climate research and protection of biodiversity and maritime security.

France's La Poste printed individual stamps in sheets of 42 each. Like most other joint issued in France, La Poste put a presentation pack for sale along with two types of pre-stamped envelopes and a brochure with cancelled stamps from both countries. India Post printed the stamps in individual sheets with 45 stamps in each sheet along with a miniature sheet with both the stamps. Sankha Samanta designed the stamp showing SARAL satellite and David Ducros of France did the artwork for the stamp showing Megha-Tropiques satellite. These stamps were issued at an event on 10th April 2015 when the Prime Minister of India traveled to France for an official visit.

If you found this to be an interesting read, do leave comments or suggestions below.

India-France joint issue (2015) on 50 years of cooperation in space science

India's XI Definitive Stamp Series - Makers of India

Update 6 on 29 May 2016: One more of the four remaining definitive stamps - on Gopinath Bordoloi - in the Makers of India series is available for purchase on ePostOffice. It was likely supplied to post offices from mid-April 2017. Just three more stamps are pending to be issued to complete the series. There was discussion in the philatelic community about new Makers of India postcards and inland letters as well, but nothing has been seen so far.

Update 5 on 18 Dec 2016: It's been quite a while since this post was last updated. The key points to note is that most of the stamps, except four of the planned 27 stamps have been issued and available for purchase on ePostOffice or at the local post offices. The stamps that were put on sale in the second and third quarter of 2016 are listed below along with the ones that are yet to be issued. We urge India Post to put the remaining four stamps in circulation as soon as possible, to complete this new definitive series.

Released Q2 2016 onward
Bhimsen Joshi
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Jawaharlal Nehru
Maharana Pratap
M. S. Subbulakshmi
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Subhash Chandra Bose

Pending stamps
Gopinath Bordoloi
Mother (Saint) Teresa
Rabindranath Tagore
Thiruvalluvar

Update 4 on 01 Apr 2016: A lot of the definitive stamps in this series are now available across many post offices and even online at ePostOffice. Just posting an update to the grid/list below. Green indicates that the stamp has been sold at at least one post office in India. Although not technically sound, it appears to be an overall good decision to have started a new definitive stamp series. It has a much needed freshness to it. Happy Collecting!

Update 3 on 23 Jan 2016: Sharing an image for 19 of the definitive stamps for this new stamp series. Only a handful of them (8 more) remain to be seen. Some of these might be available soon. Let's go looking for these stamps on mail or in local post offices.

Update 2 on 18  Dec 2015: Here's a major overhaul of the Makers of India Stamp Series. Below is a final version of the stamp series with a total of 27 personalities and one Yoga stamp. The denominations for all the stamps is shown as well. Better Philately is most likely the first source of this information for philatelists. Happy Holidays!

A few points of note: 
1. Gopinath Bordoloi has been included in the stamp series, so have Srinivasa Ramanujan, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Thiruvalluvar. 
2. Karpuri Thakur no longer features on the final list.
3. An additional stamp on Yoga (25 Paise) will also be released along with the personality series. There was even a mention of inland letter cards or airmail letter cards with the Yoga theme as well.
4. There will be no 2 Rupees or 15 Rupees stamps in this definitive series.
5. Removed references to release dates. Neither official dates for first day of issuance are being announced nor first day covers are being provided. So, it doesn't provide a fair opportunity to know the stamp release date for this series.

Update 1: Added Bhagat Singh, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Moulana Abul Kalam Azad and Ram Manohar Lohia stamp date and denomination. Appears to be an odd move to release a bulk of the new stamps in 5 rupees denomination.

As a response to the less representative Builders of Modern India stamp series, a new one is being put in place. As of early December 2015, seven 5 Rupees stamps have already been released. This new list has not been put out officially, but is a guess based on news information in the last few months. Mainstream media had enjoyed a week long spectacle when the Indira and Rajiv Gandhi stamp sales were halted in July 2015. Government officials presented their case during this time and provided insight into this new stamp series as well. Three of the guesses have so far been accurate based on this list. Additional updated for first known sale date will be added as it becomes available. There will be no first day covers (FDC) or an official release date for this series of stamps, so one has to be content with approximate release dates based on first availability of the stamps in post offices.

The number of personalities, presumably to be honored with the new stamp series is more than twice the previous definitive stamp series, but appears to cover a wider range of historical figures, political, social and spiritual leaders. Although more representative it is still missing a sports personality, a representative of North-East India and and an industrialist. If given a choice, the following should be included as well:

Dhirubhai Ambani, Aurobindo, G. D. Birla, Gopinath Bordoloi, Dhyan Chand, Satish Dhawan, Tenzing Norgay, Dadasaheb Phalke, Munshi Premchand and Vikram Sarabhai.

Although, not ideal, the best way to enable a larger series of stamps could be by printing limited quantities for each personality. This would prevent from a glut of the definitive stamps in post offices and could end up adversely impacting sale of commemorative stamps as well. Many post offices tend to sell overstock commemorative stamps along with the definitive stamps to remove dead stock and also provide variety to customers. Anyways, given that the new stamp series was initiated so soon after the public discussion, a blog post for initial thoughts and a way to track progress of the Makers of India stamp series seemed appropriate.

Makers of India – Eleventh Definitive Stamp Series (2015 onward)

Issue Description	Contribution to Making India	Denomination
Mahatma Gandhi	Indian Independence	25 Paise
Subramania Bharathi	Writer & Poet Indian Independence	50 Paise
Bal Gangadhar Tilak	Indian Independence – Home Rule League	Re 1
Bhimsen Joshi	Arts & Culture (Singer)	Rs 3
Bismillah Khan	Arts & Culture (Shehnai Player)	Rs 3
M. S. Subbulakshmi	Arts & Culture (Singer)	Rs 3
Ravi Shankar	Arts & Culture (Sitar Player)	Rs 3
Srinivasa Ramanujan	Mathematics	Rs 4
Bhagat Singh	Indian Independence – Socialist Republican Association	Rs 5
Deendayal Upadhyaya	Integral Humanism Led Bharatiya Jana Sangh	Rs 5
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar	Indian Constitution Modern Buddhist Movement	Rs 5
Gopinath Bordoloi	Indian Independence Assam Chief Minister	Rs 5
Jayaprakash Narayan	Indian Independence Total Revolution of 1970s	Rs 5
Jawaharlal Nehru	Indian Independence First Prime Minister	Rs 5
Lal Bahadur Shastri	Indian Independence Second Prime Minister	Rs 5
Moulana Abul Kalam Azad	Indian Independence First Education Minister	Rs 5
Rajendra Prasad	Indian Independence First President of India	Rs 5
Ram Manohar Lohia	Indian Independence Socialist Leader	Rs 5
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel	Indian Independence First Home Minister/Deputy Prime Minister Integrated 600 Small States	Rs 5
Subhash Chandra Bose	Indian Independence Pre-Independence National Army	Rs 5
Swami Vivekananda	Indian Philosophy – Vedanta & Yoga	Rs 5
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee	Indian Independence Founded Bharatiya Jana Sangh	Rs 5
Thiruvalluvar	Ancient Tamil Poetry & Philosophy	Rs 5
Chhatrapati Shivaji	Warrior & Ideal Rule of Maratha Empire	Rs 10
Maharana Pratap	Gallantry Warrior & Rule of Mewar Empire	Rs 10
Mother Teresa	Catholic Religious Sister Missionaries of Charity	Rs 20
Rabindranath Tagore	Indian Independence Indian Writing & Poetry India’s National Anthem	Rs 50

Spelling Bee in Postage Stamps

It's been a while since the last blog post discussing errors in spelling on Indian postage stamps. Here are a couple recent ones. Both these stamp subjects were recognized in the new definitive stamp series, Makers of India. One of them, Syama Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953) was also honored with commemorative postage stamps in 1978 and 2001. The first stamp in 1978 had English rendering of Mookerjee's name in a signature form, but the second one in 2001 showed his name typo-graphed in English and Hindi. It appears that Mookerjee's name in both the commemorative stamps is spelled similarly, but the new definitive stamp (2015) is quite different. So, now there are two variations of Syama Prasad Mookerjee's spelling. Why can't India Post use information from official documents such as Parliament records to confirm this prior to printing postage stamps? As far as the Hindi (Devanagiri) spelling goes, it is a well known tradition where the Mookerjee last name can also be replaced with Mukhopadhyaya as well. The problem here is that India Post puts this flexibility to full use. The stamp issued in 1978 and the new definitive stamp (2015) use Mukhopadhyaya, but the one from 2001 has Mookerjee on it. The Great India Post Confusion.

English renderings:
Syama Prasad Mookerjee (1978 and 2001)
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (2015)

Vernacular Hindi spellings:
Syama Prasad Mookerjee (2001)
Syama Prasad Mukhopadhyaya (1978 and 2015)

Another stamp released as part of the Makers of India definitive stamp series, is to honor Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. There have been two postage stamps released in his memory (1966 and 1988) prior to the most recent one last year (2015). The first stamp in 1966 shows Azad's name as Abul Kalam Azad, not using the Maulana title. The next one to celebrate his birth centenary in 1988 shows his name as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, but the one in 2015 changed the spelling for his title from Maulana to Moulana. This change not be a significant one, but the issue is about consistency. Firstly, India Post must try refrain from repeating stamp subjects, but if pressed, stamp designers on its artists panel should at least attempt for uniform naming convention for well known personalities, institutions or events. Here's hoping things will be better in 2016.

English renderings:

Moulana Abul Kalam Azad (2015)

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1988)

Abul Kalam Azad (1966)

Choose Your Favorite 2015 India Postage Stamp

It's a wrap! Brief notes for stamp releases in 2015

Now that the calendar year is over, a rundown of some stamp facts seems in order.

India Post

Stamps: A total of 56 commemorative/special stamps were released in 2015. This marks an increase of 20 stamps over the last year (2014). This total of 56 stamps includes a set of 6 hot foil embossed stamps issued as a miniature sheet format only to commemorate the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit and one Indian stamp issued in a souvenir sheet format by Singapore Post to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations between India and Singapore. 

Miniature Sheets: 11 miniature sheets including the hot foil embossed miniature sheet (3rd India-Africa Forum Summit) and the Siamese twin souvenir sheet issued by Singapore Post. It is not clear if some of the major catalogs will include this souvenir sheet, but it appears to include a valid Indian postage stamp and thus important for India stamp collectors.

MyStamps: A total of 4 MyStamps including 3 in the Gujarat theme and one to commemorate Godavari Pushkaram in Rajahmundry were issued in 2015.

Sheetlets & Se-tanants: The 2 sheetlets that were made available were both for the MyStamp issues (Gujarat & Godavari Pushkaram 2015). Only two se-tenants, both were from the Gujarat MyStamp sheetlet.

United States Postal Service

Stamps: A total of 81 commemorative, definitive and special stamps were released in 2015. Face value of commemorative stamps was approximately 13 dollars whereas the cost to procure one of each definitive and special stamp was 26.1 dollars. If there are discrepancies in the total number of stamps and their face value, leave a comment below.

Se-tenants:  The following 12 stamps were issued as se-tenants. Forever Hearts (2); Water Lilies (4); Martin Ramirez (5); Civil War 1865 (2); Gifts of Friendship (2 x 2); Medal of Honor: Vietnam War (3); Coastal Birds (4); Summer Harvest (4); 2016 World Stamp Show NY (2); A Charlie Brown Christmas (10) and Geometric Snowflakes (4)

Booklets: Only 4 booklets (each containing 20 stamps) were issued. These were Water Lilies, Summer Harvest, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Geometric Snowflakes.

Print quantities: This was seemingly an important feature of U. S. postage stamps in 2015. There were 10 stamp issues that were printed in quantities less than 20 million. Smallest quantities were printed for $2 patriotic wave stamp (10 million) and the largest quantity was printed for the Stars & Stripes Presorted standard Coils of 10,000 (1 billion stamps).

What's your favorite stamp of 2015?

Here's a poll to chose your favorite stamp of 2015.

India Post 2015

Stamps released by India Post in 2015:

Date	Issue Description	Format	Denomination	Print Quantity
7-Jan-15	MyStamp – Gujarat (3 designs)	Sheetlet of 12 (4 each)	Rs 5 each	N/A
8-Jan-15	100 Years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Return (2 designs)	Sheets of 40 each	Rs 25 and 5	0.9 Mil each
8-Jan-15	100 Years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Return (2 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 2	Rs 30	0.5 Million
22-Jan-15	Beti Bachao Beti Padhao	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.5 Million
30-Jan-15	Swachh Bharat (3 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 5 each	0.5 Million
30-Jan-15	Swachh Bharat (3 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 3	Rs 15	0.2 Million
14-Feb-15	Project Rukmani	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.5 Million
20-Mar-15	Indian Ocean and Rajendra Chola 1	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
27-Mar-15	Engineers India Limited	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.65 Million
10-Apr-15	India-France: Joint Issue (2 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 25 and 5	0.9 mil each
10-Apr-15	India-France: Joint Issue (2 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 2	Rs 30	0.1 Million
18-Apr-15	Patna High Court	Sheet of 24	Rs 5	0.6 Million
21-Apr-15	Old Seminary, Kottayam	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
21-Jun-15	International Yoga Day	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
21-Jun-15	International Yoga Day	Miniature Sheet of 1	Rs 5	0.2 Million
14-Jul-15	MyStamp – Godavari Pushkaram 2015	Sheetlet of 12	Rs 5	N/A
17-Jul-15	Nabakalebara 2015 - Shri Jagannath Dham, Puri	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
24-Aug-15	Samrat Ashoka	Sheet of 30	Rs 5	0.5 Million
2-Sep-15	Women Empowerment (4 designs)	Sheets of 45 x 2 Sheets of 35 x 2	Rs 5 each	0.5 Mil each
2-Sep-15	Women Empowerment (4 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 4	Rs 20	0.2 Million
10-Sep-15	10th World Hindi Conference	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.51 Million
15-Sep-15	Valour & Sacrifice – 1965 War (3 designs)	Sheets of 45	Rs 5 each	0.6 Mil each
30-Sep-15	Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Constitution of India	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.5 Million
1-Oct-15	Mahant Avaidyanath	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.5 Million
15-Oct-15	Charkha (2 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 5 each	0.5 Mil each
15-Oct-15	Charkha (2 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 2	Rs 10	0.2 Million
15-Oct-15	Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam	Sheet of 36	Rs 5	0.6 Million
21-Oct-15	Border Security Force	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.8 Million
29-Oct-15	3rd India-Africa Forum Summit (6 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 5x4 & 25x2	0.5 Mil each
29-Oct-15	3rd India-Africa Forum Summit (6 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 6	Rs 70	0.1 Million
29-Oct-15	3rd India-Africa Forum Summit (6 designs) Hot Stamped Foil & Embossed	Miniature Sheet of 6	Rs 70	0.1 Million
2-Nov-15	First Gorkha Rifles & Third Gorkha Rifles 1815-2015 (2 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 5 each	0.6 Mil each
14-Nov-15	Children’s Day (2 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 25 and 5	0.6 Mil each
14-Nov-15	Children’s Day (2 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 2	Rs 30	0.2 Million
16-Nov-15	Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
24-Nov-15	India-Singapore: Joint Issue (2 designs)	Sheets of 45 each	Rs 25 and 5	0.3 Mil each
24-Nov-15	India-Singapore: Joint Issue	Singapore Post Souvenir Sheet	Rs 25 (India)	N/A
24-Nov-15	EEPC India	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million
3-Dec-15	Zoological Survey of India (2 designs)	Sheets of 18 each	Rs 25 and 5	0.25 Mil & 0.5 Mil
3-Dec-15	Zoological Survey of India (2 designs)	Miniature Sheet of 2	Rs 30	0.1 Mil each
23-Dec-15	Sumitranandan Pant	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.3 Million
26-Dec-15	Alagumuthu Kone	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.32 Million
30-Dec-15	Institute for Defense Security and Analyses	Sheet of 45	Rs 5	0.6 Million

*Singapore Post issued a Siamese Twin Issue that includes one stamp from India as well.

Forthcoming stamp issues: These issues could possibly be released in 2016. These subjects will be carried over to a new blog post.
Bhupesh Gupta

D. Devaraj Urs
Fire Services in India
Mahabharata & Ramayana