India Pincode Grounding Data

Overview

A pincode lookup API built from the All India Pincode Directory published by the Department of Posts, Government of India. One call returns the full picture for a PIN code: district and state with its ISO 3166-2:IN code, the India Post circle, region and division, a coordinate taken as the median of its offices, and every post office under the PIN marked as head, sub or branch office with its delivery status and own coordinates. Reverse lookups find PIN codes by post office name, district or state. The coordinates and the post office list are on paid plans, as is nearby=true, which lists the PIN codes within a radius of up to 50 km, nearest first.

Live Test India Pincode Grounding Data Source →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as IndiaPincodeGroundingData. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call

{
  "name": "IndiaPincodeGroundingData",
  "arguments": {}
}

Connecting

One server URL covers every source in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervecontext": {
      "url": "https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Argument	Type	Description
`pincode`Optional	string	Six-digit PIN code
`office`Optional	string	Post office name or part of it length 0–100
`district`Optional	string	District name length 0–80
`state`Optional	string	State or union territory name length 0–80
`nearby`OptionalPremium	boolean	With pincode, include the PIN codes within radius km
`radius`Optional	number	Radius in km for nearby (1-50) default 10 · range 1–50
`limit`Optional	integer	Maximum PIN codes to return for searches (1-50) default 10 · range 1–50

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "count": 1,
    "totalMatches": 1,
    "results": [
      {
        "pincode": "560001",
        "district": "Bengaluru Urban",
        "state": "Karnataka",
        "stateCode": "KA",
        "circle": "Karnataka Circle",
        "region": "Bengaluru HQ Region",
        "division": "BANGALORE GPO DIVISION",
        "latitude": 12.98247,
        "longitude": 77.59456,
        "timezone": "Asia/Kolkata",
        "postOfficeCount": 10,
        "deliveryOfficeCount": 1,
        "postOffices": [
          {
            "name": "Bengaluru G.P.O.",
            "officeType": "head_office",
            "delivery": true,
            "latitude": 12.9716,
            "longitude": 77.59456
          },
          {
            "name": "Bengaluru Foreign Post S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 13.03,
            "longitude": 77.6007
          },
          {
            "name": "CMM Court Complex S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.97949,
            "longitude": 77.59418
          },
          {
            "name": "Dr. Ambedkar Veedhi S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.98114,
            "longitude": 77.59536
          },
          {
            "name": "HighCourt S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.96842,
            "longitude": 77.56919
          },
          {
            "name": "Legislators Home S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.98386,
            "longitude": 77.58961
          },
          {
            "name": "Mahatma Gandhi Road S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.16103,
            "longitude": 78.00022
          },
          {
            "name": "Rajbhavan S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.98247,
            "longitude": 77.5913
          },
          {
            "name": "Vasanthanagar S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.99351,
            "longitude": 77.5921
          },
          {
            "name": "Vidhana Soudha S.O",
            "officeType": "sub_office",
            "delivery": false,
            "latitude": 12.98747,
            "longitude": 77.60475
          }
        ],
        "nearby": [
          {
            "pincode": "560009",
            "district": "Bengaluru Urban",
            "state": "Karnataka",
            "distanceKm": 1.57
          },
          {
            "pincode": "560042",
            "district": "Bengaluru Urban",
            "state": "Karnataka",
            "distanceKm": 1.93
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`count`	number	`1`	Number of PIN codes returned
`totalMatches`	number	`1`	Number of PIN codes that matched before the limit
`results`	array[1]
`results.0.pincode`	string	`560001`	Six-digit Indian postal index number
`results.0.district`	string	`Bengaluru Urban`	District
`results.0.state`	string	`Karnataka`	State or union territory
`results.0.stateCode`	string	`KA`	ISO 3166-2:IN subdivision code, e.g. KA
`results.0.circle`	string	`Karnataka Circle`	India Post circle
`results.0.region`	string	`Bengaluru HQ Region`	India Post region; null where the division reports straight to the circle
`results.0.division`	string	`BANGALORE GPO DIVISION`	India Post division
`results.0.latitude`Premium	number	`12.98247`	Latitude of the PIN: the median of its post offices' coordinates
`results.0.longitude`Premium	number	`77.59456`	Longitude of the PIN
`results.0.timezone`	string	`Asia/Kolkata`	IANA time zone (Asia/Kolkata)
`results.0.postOfficeCount`	number	`10`	Number of post offices under the PIN
`results.0.deliveryOfficeCount`	number	`1`	Number of those offices that deliver mail
`results.0.postOffices`Premium	array[10]		Every post office under the PIN, head office first
`results.0.postOffices.0.name`Premium	string	`Bengaluru G.P.O.`	Post office name
`results.0.postOffices.0.officeType`Premium	string	`head_office`	head_office, sub_office or branch_office
`results.0.postOffices.0.delivery`Premium	boolean	`true`	The office delivers mail
`results.0.postOffices.0.latitude`Premium	number	`12.9716`	Latitude of the office; null when the directory gives none or an implausible one
`results.0.postOffices.0.longitude`Premium	number	`77.59456`	Longitude of the office
`results.0.nearby`Premium	array[2]		PINs within radius km (nearby=true): pincode, district, state, distanceKm
`results.0.nearby.0.pincode`Premium	string	`560009`
`results.0.nearby.0.district`Premium	string	`Bengaluru Urban`
`results.0.nearby.0.state`Premium	string	`Karnataka`
`results.0.nearby.0.distanceKm`Premium	number	`1.57`

Why ground on it

A model can produce something that looks like this answer from its training data, and be confidently out of date or simply wrong. This source returns the current value in a shape you can check, which is the difference between an answer you can cite and one you have to hedge.

Point an evaluation at count: it is the field most worth pinning a claim to, and it is either present and current or absent — never plausibly invented.

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This source is not part of VerveContext. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 2 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Checkout Address Autofill: Fill district and state as soon as a shopper types a 6-digit PIN code, and reject PIN codes that do not exist.
Delivery Serviceability: Check whether a PIN code has a delivery post office and list nearby PIN codes for courier zone planning.
Address Cleaning: Standardise district and state names and attach ISO state codes to customer records.
Store and Agent Locators: Find the PIN codes around a branch to define its catchment area.

Other ways to use India Pincode Grounding Data

Set up India Pincode Grounding Data on VerveContext, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveContext account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an x-api-key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerve →Reference →

Give it to an AI agentConnect over MCP and your agent calls it as a native tool — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.VerveKit →Reference →

Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheets →Reference →