Digipin will displace workarounds to getting around

Public location infrastructure that digitally covers all of India will lead people right up to our doorsteps

- RAHUL MATTHAN

Whenever I order something online, I’ve learnt to provide as much location information as I can at checkout. As with most parts of India, the houses on my street are numbered somewhat at random (mine is 22/1 and my immediate neighbour’s is 13), and there is no way anyone relying solely on GPS can find me without help. So they call, I explain, they get lost anyway, and we repeat this dance till somehow, with persistence and a lot of patience, the package finally reaches me.

This is a story that repeats itself millions of times a day across the length and breadth of the country. Our addressing system is so broken that delivery agents have taken to calling even before they set out. Despite India being a top-five economy, we still navigate like medieval merchants, using directions like “turn left at the paan shop.”

This is somewhat ironic considering that India has one of the world’s most extensive postal networks. With 155,000 offices and 89% rural coverage, India Post can reach virtually every person in the country. But the challenge isn’t reaching them, it is reaching them on time. In a world where next-day delivery is the norm and 10 minutes is fast becoming an expectation, our postal service is just not up to the task.

So we’ve turned to logistics companies and their armies of delivery agents who zip around following turn-by-turn directions on mobile phones strapped to their handlebars to get parcels to us. And even if the miracles of modern technology get them close to us, the last mile often defeats them.