Data sources and licence

CodeKhoj is only as good as the lists behind it. This page names each list exactly, records which version is loaded, and explains the terms we work under.

Pincode directory

Not loaded yet. The publisher of CodeKhoj has not yet downloaded the directory, so no pincode data is on this site.

The portal shows "File size: NA" and says the data is generated through its API. The API needs a personal key from a portal account and returns at most 1,000 records per request. (Source: data.gov.in)

What the licence allows, in our words

The Government Open Data License - India gives users a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use, adapt, publish and build products and services on the data, for lawful commercial and non-commercial purposes (Source: GODL). In return it asks for three things that shape this site:

• Attribution. We must name the provider, the source and the licence, with the dataset's URL, using the statement format in section 5 of the licence. Ours is below.
• No suggestion of endorsement. We must not imply that the Department of Posts endorses CodeKhoj. It does not, and we have no relationship with it.
• No warranty. The data is provided without any guarantee, and the provider is not liable for errors or omissions, or for the continued supply of updates.

The licence does not cover names, crests, logos and other official symbols of the data provider (Source: GODL), so CodeKhoj does not use the India Post logo or any official emblem.

Attribution statement

The GODL attribution statement appears here, with the version date, once the directory is imported.

IFSC list

Not loaded yet. Not cleared. The publisher has not asked RBI for permission, so the IFSC list is not loaded.

RBI's website terms, and why RBI sources have no links here

The RBI website footer and Disclaimer state "All Rights Reserved". The Disclaimer says links to the home page need written notice to RBI and links to internal pages need RBI's prior permission. It does not set out an open licence for reusing the list. (Source: RBI)

Because of that, CodeKhoj prints RBI sources as plain text instead of hyperlinks, and the IFSC list stays unloaded until the publisher has asked RBI and recorded the answer. The facts we quote from RBI pages (how an IFSC and a MICR code are structured) are short, attributed, and restated in our own words.

India Post's website terms, and why India Post pages have no links here

India Post's hyperlinking policy says other websites need prior permission before linking to its pages, and its copyright notice says material on its site may be downloaded or printed, but other uses need the Department of Posts' approval (Source: India Post). CodeKhoj therefore names India Post pages as plain text, and uses them only for short facts restated in our own words, such as how the postal circles are organised. The same goes for the two former India Post circle websites (Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand) whose lists of the areas under each first digit the pincode guide sets out: those sites are offline, and we name the pages and the Internet Archive copies we read without linking to them. Pincode data on this site comes only from the data.gov.in portal under the Government Open Data License - India, never from the India Post website.

How CodeKhoj processes the files

• The official files are placed by hand in a folder on the publisher's build computer. Our import script reads them there; nothing is fetched from government servers while you search.
• From the pincode directory we keep the nine fields listed above. We drop latitude and longitude if the file has them, because CodeKhoj has no map.
• From the IFSC list we keep bank, IFSC, branch, address, city, district, state and MICR code. We do not republish branch phone numbers.
• For the pincode directory, exact duplicate rows are removed. For the IFSC list, if a code appears more than once only its first row is kept, and the import report counts the rest, including how many of them had different details. Rows without a valid pincode or IFSC are skipped and counted too.
• Records are split into small files by the first three digits of the pincode and by bank code, so your browser downloads only the part it needs. There are no separate pages per pincode or branch.
• Values are shown as published. We do not correct spellings or merge offices.

Updates and corrections

The portal lists the pincode directory as updated monthly, and the RBI list carries an “as on” date. Each import is recorded on this page with its date. If you spot a mistake in the underlying data, report it to the publisher: the data.gov.in dataset page has a “Write to CDO” form, and your bank can correct its own branch details. If CodeKhoj shows something different from the official list, tell us and we will check it.