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I am posting this thread here so that some official on Indian posts OR some folk who is active in philately and has a link to Indian post can point out the rubbish print quality of the recent issues of Indian stamps.

This is not a month's observation but since 2010 the print quality has declined considerably (when other nations are printing stunning quality stamps with modern technology).

In 2012 my observation says, all the issues are having color shifts. The black is not black, the yellow is not yellow and so on. The colors have pitch dots in them and are not filled up. They are visible in naked eye.

The designs are equally frustrating.

The paper - lets not mention it.

I wonder who is printing these and how do these flood the Post offices without any quality checks and why is the postal department not even bothered about it?

And here are some issues of 2012.














If someone from the India Post is reading this, please let know your superiors or whoever is in charge to look after the printing quality of the stamps.

These stamps don't match the quality of stamps that India produced 1990 - 2005 period.

Something is just very very wrong.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

Would be easy to counterfeit the stamps, the PO wouldn't be able to tell the fakes from their own, genuine product.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

They are hardly bothered! If this continues, I am planning to stop my India collection. A lot of money goes in for the upkeep of the stamps in our weather, right from Hagners, Dry cabinets etc.

This is totally unacceptable.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

I can see what you are saying, even East Germany produced better stuff than that.

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With kind regards, Jim

I believe postal forgeries have been a problem in recent years

Although there might be a positive side to this

If the trend continues, maybe we will eventually see stamps being handstamped from handcut dies

- in watercolor

- on various handmade papers

India's stamp could become interesting again

To be honest the overall quality since independence of Indian stamps - for about 70 years has been generally crappy.

In the earlier days when printing generally was often low end globally, and India then being a very poor country then that was understandable.

Today, there is NO excuse.

This I have in stock only due to the Gandhi misperf, but it is 2002 and the print is very rough as you can see. Looks like a bad photocopy quality. No wonder forgery is rife.

Monocolour in 2012 is absurd.



Try forging THIS!

Glen,

The Indian issues post-independence 1947 were superb specially the litho issues. Then the commemoratives were at par with the rest of world (albeit not like GB or Canada).

At least the printing was good. The paper quality suffered, not always imported paper were used but indigenous paper (which turned brown quickly in tropical climate) were vastly used.

The mass definitives (the picture you have shown) suffered printing quality variations and being definitives they were easily classified as Die I, Die II etc. Actually they were mal-printed.

But NOW, a street side packaging has a better label than Indian stamps. Given the surge and craziness to acquire new issues and the steep price determined by the racket of crooked dealers, this rubbish quality of Indian stamps is simply not acceptable.

The postal department needs to understand this easy and fast.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

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'First I'll steal all the money, then I'll kill everybody, and then I'll go away', Père Ubu

Now that's some quality printing

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My wantlist for Malta Revenues

If more people thinks like you perhaps the overheating of Indian stamps market price can be halted. I hope you keep your word.

That was kinda funny Opkedia52. I buy each stamp for Quantity = 1.

To cool the heat you are talking about, you need to stop the jackasses who wipe off 100s of sheets directly from the treasury or just maintain a thick PD account.

Remember, the prices are high not because of genuine collectors but because of a racket of so called dealers who create a virtual demand of stuffs by hedging stuffs.

The postal department is the cool customer who watches the whole entertainment and gets the booze.

However, it is pretty sad to see that most people can't see the difference in quality of stamps. Nor they are interested in what the stamp is issued about. All they know is, they will be rich someday by selling the rubbish lot they just acquired.



I will be surprised if genuine collectors do not think like me.
They really need to visit the optician fast! Or they really need to get educated on quality stamp printing. Or they are used to accept crappy quality just like their other aspect of life.
Traffic, air, water, food etc...

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

I must agree that the printing quality for the Indian stamps of last 50 years is very low. Maybe till 1960´s it was nice and acceptable, but not today.

And why so low quality? Similar idea was set here: just to be more easy to forge them?

There was a big affair about the "organization" covering several highly attitude persons including minister which sells incredible amount of forged stamped papers (worth about 1 billion of USD). After this affair, the papers are equipped with safety elements similar to those in banknotes.

I think that India Post probably needs similar input to improve the print quality.

I'm glad somebody from India has stepped up and said this! It is all too easy to be appearing to criticise another country if you criticise their stamps, but the quality of material from India these days is very poor.

I liken it to the forgeries of Nigerian stamps that were used in the 'send me some money' scam back in the mid-90s before they discovered email. Very poor quality.

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Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Thank you for sharing Indieguy.

The printing quality you are showing here is indeed appalling, and I completely agree with your observation that modern printing technology has in fact allowed other postal administration (GB being a great example) to produce stamps of stunning quality.

In fact, this is the only reason I'm still tempted to be GB stamps after 2000, despite the obvious overproduction and constant scams to milk collectors.

At least you get something well printed well designed for the price.

So as far as I can see, the main reason this is being around is - most collectors from India even if they know the quality is poor keep their eyes closed and do not bother about it.

As you can see a senior collector from my country opkedia52 just expressed that he will be happy if I (and people like me) stop collecting and then he expects the prices of the stamps will fall

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

There is no reason why India could not produce stamps of the same or better quality as any other major country.

There are plenty high grade paper mills, the chemical industry is one of the worlds best, and I am sure that there is no shortage of top quality printers.

Thanks for bringing this out indieguy.

I am a collector of indian stamps from 1854 to 1980 only. So i have never got a chance to look at the latest issues. I have noticed lot of recalled issues of late. I would often wonder if its done intentionally just to jack the prices up and make money for few rich influential people?

Very important issue brought forth here. I have spoken about this with many an Indian stamp collectors in another online community in the last few years, none even has anything to say about it but; whatever you say about the cheap quality, or perhaps I must say 'no quality' stamps that are dished out these days, it lands on deaf ears.

Although I must add here that the quality of certain stamps and miniature sheets do look of international standards in between, some very finely produced, but they are becoming rare and distant between the wide array of cheap stamps rolled out one after another...

And as for losing interest in collecting these new issues, I have already stopped a couple of years back. I just pick up a select few stamps and miniature sheets that are qualitative and personally attractive for me, the rest are just not decent enough. I have found even locally produced match-box labels having more clearer images than some of the stamps, as displayed here at the top of this topic. Also, quite frustrating when you see small island nations like Faroe and the like have well-planned and executed new issues where quality is of the highest standards.

In a nation where millions are crazy about hoarding new issues in the form of multiples and full sheets, I do not understand why they can't bring out decent and attractive new stamps. Why do they have to make the printing cheaper and cheaper? It's not like they have to cut costs keeping in mind what happens after any stamp or miniature sheet is issued in India, it's a mad frenzy irrespective of how the stamp looks. They could in fact bring out the best quality stamps if they so wish.

One problem could be that there's just too many of them issued week after week in a single year cramping the schedule with less and less time for bring them out, thus there's too much of work delegated to low-level people in the chain. But why can't they just limit it to 20-odd stamps and 3-5 miniature sheets a year? Why 70 odd stamps plus a dozen miniature sheets every year I wonder...

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

How much do the stamps of a whole year cost in India?
In Malta, the year packs cost €30-€50 each.

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My wantlist for Malta Revenues

Here in India, the face value price of a year pack inspite of the excessive quantity of stamps doesn't cost too much comparatively, perhaps 20 Euros if you include the miniature sheets issued for the year (which is not included in the official Indian year packs) but not many get sold on the counter, in fact, hardly any most of the times.

It's what happens next that is crazy. Quickly they come into the market, through eBay and all, but for double and at times triple the price in within a year of their issue! And they get taken fast. In a way, it's not only the dealer nexus that's responsible for this but I guess it's also the thousands of stamp collectors who go on a mad buying spree, getting confused between collecting and investing.

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

I collect Pakistan and only Mughal themed Indian stamps and from my experience with Indian stamps Pakistan's stamps are much better quality than the Indian stamps that have recently come about.

If they continue to print like this, I will certainly take it to Pakistan Post to improve their stamps even more so that it overtakes India as the next big place.

Competition in philately also!! Nice

I'm not sure that quality printing is enough to lead to a speculation boom in Pakistan, but that's probably for the best for those buying Pakistani stamps. Not so much for those looking to sell them at a profit!
Is the stamp market in Pakistan booming at the moment?

In India a typical year pack will cost Euro 10 or less.
opkedia

If the quality of printing and paper is the only criterion then it is only stamp collecting and not philately.Had it been so,there would not be so much ugly lovers and people devoting their whole life researching particular stamps or a group of stamps for cliche variety,paper varieties,perforation etc..Perhaps fifty years or so none will look for Pakistan stamps(still there are not many takers) as they are monotonous.But indian stamps with paper variety,printing variety,ink variety would still be sought after.

opkedia

Indian stamp quality is extremely poor. Is there any improvement? It hasn't seen so. From the 90's onwards when they started accepting the Mughal history and producing said stamps their quality was extremely poor when compared to Pakistani stamps of the same time.

Monotonous to you maybe, but their designs are much more than simple Gandhi stamps. They are better designs than India has.

What do you mean by accepting Moughal history?

Indian history is full of invaders from Alexander to Kushans to Chengish Khan to Moughals to English. None can deny history and it is taught in all history books of india.

We peace loving Indians because of our affluance in past were always target for foreign invaders from the beginning of the known history.

opkedia

What is the quality of other Indian publications like? Papers, magazines, government brochures etc.

Or is this what they are used to in high speed printing?

The difference between a good print run and a bad print run is the care taken by the printer to watch and adjust the print run and make sure the various plates line up properly.

The time taken to do this is in minutes only to get it right! There is no excuse for sloppy printing with the machines we have today, or for the last 30 years!

Crumbs, if my ink jet does a better job, what are they using?

But they are not alone in the "can't print straight" category - look at the bulk USA stamps of the 70's and 80's, they were out of alignment all over the place.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Accepting Moghul history? Please don't touch sensitive topics.

Mod Hat On
The title of this thread says the discussion is about the printing quality (or lack thereof) of Indian postage stamps. Lets stick to that topic.

If you wish to debate the accepting/teaching/studying of Indian sub-continent history, feel free to start a relevant thread in the Water Cooler.
Mod Hat Off

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Allanswood makes a good point, and I believe has some background in the printing industry? Comparison of stamps to banknotes quality was also mentioned earlier in this thread.

Is everything printed in India of such poor quality? As someone said earlier, the packaging of a candy-wrapper looks better nowadays. The technology is 'out there' in the world, and is certainly available in India, the failing is with India Post to have competent machinery & staff, or to outsource to a suitable contracted printer.

So, is it sheer laziness on the part of management? Greed by India Post, "look, we can put out a low-quality product, at little cost, and people still snap it up, so no need to spend more on quality"?

Of course we all know that if a postal administration puts out "junk", be it commems with no national relevance, or gimmicky gold stamps, or tourist-shop souvenirs, they will be criticized for it, and in the long-run will lose collector following.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

The basic function of a postage stamp is prepayment of a service to be provided. India post is sticking to its core function by printing limited numbers of stamps with revelence to current topics and modern India history.

The greedy philatelists and investors are making good use of this policy of limited quantity by hoarding the stamps and selling it at premium. If you want novel and good quality printed stamps,start collecting Bhutan,St.Vincent,Nevis,Tulu etc..

One collect indian stamps only because one see excitement and of course monetary appreciation in it.

I would never like to see a very good quality printed stamps without any variations because there will be no excitement left - it will just be collecting a piece of paper.

opkedia

How much was the price of the last issued year pack of India, I mean the official price? Although I do not follow and remember the exact details of the new issues of India since 2008, I do remember it being around Rs 800 or something?

And these year packs were just stamps right? Without including any of the miniature sheets issued for the year?

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

Like I mentioned above, there are quite a few stamps and miniature sheets among new issues that are well planned and executed, of international standards, and I feel it's only fair to reflect the full picture about the quality of Indian stamps to those outside India, otherwise we'd be guilty of giving only one side of the picture that will linger in the minds of the collectors worldwide

Let me collect all those images I have of my personal favorites from the recent Indian Philately and share them here too as it will lend a balanced perspective to what we are discussing about here, in its totality.

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

The price of 2009 collector pack was Rs. 800 (Approx. 11.5 Euro) but the stamps were only less than 650 INR(< 10 Euro).Because India Post supplied 2009 Pack in 2011 either they collected interest for the money blocked or premium to milk the collector who didn't open a philatelic account with bureaus.

The Pack for 2010 is less than 10 Euros and 2011 will also be around this amount.If you compare them with values of GB stamps issued recently which will cost you more than 100 GBP per year (I myself used to collect GB mint but discontinued after 2000 due to high face value)

India is still cheap and the no. of stamps are high because our basic postage cost is only INR 5 and due to diversity in our population -to keep everyone pleased -large number of personalities stamps are issued.

i would like to make one more point on this discussions.Indore issued well printed stamps even 100 years back except first two issues.But they are not popular as compared to other Indian princely state (Ask Mr.Tony).

This will prove my point about quality of printing not being the sole criterion for the collectors.

opkedia

Ever since privatisation swept India in the early 1990s, the publications and the printing technology in India has been world-class! I have been collecting certain magazines of my interest over the years too as my passion (read obsession) is more to do with collecting anything that I fancy than to do with one particular collectible

The Indian printing technology is so advanced since the last decade and a half in particular that there's no more import of many popular international magazines like Time, Newsweek, National Geographic etc. They are all indigenously produced in India itself, just like any international brand or product be it Nike or Reebok shoes or the latest cars from Toyota, Hyundai, Ford or Chevrolet. I just found in the neighborhood newsstand the Indian version of the famous American sports magazine 'Sports Illustrated'

The point here is that India no more has much of anything that says 'made in so and so', that has become a thing of the past. India makes its own stuff and helps international corporations make it in India too.

Now, all this evidence to the contrary from the same issuing authorities makes it all the more confusing why falter on certain new issue stamps quality when we know what they are actually capable of? Look at this miniature sheet printed in 2003, my most favorite item when it comes to Modern India:



And a few others that were issued in the last few years:

This one is from 1996!


Look at this set of stamps issued a year or so back, again my favorites as I've been in and out of these Railway stations quite a few times in my life:


A few more...

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

I guess that the issuing authorities have just not woken up to certain below-quality productions as yet, and in that context, this topic is timely and helps spread the awareness. I just hope someone from India Post or the concerned officials really come across this and implement more effective and efficient quality control when it comes to new issues

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

Thanks for that information

Yes, Holkar stamps from more than 100 years back were a real beauty!

I agree, it's not only about quality, it's also about design/layout and at times it's also sloppy in this aspect when it comes to new stamps. The children's day tiger stamp and miniature sheet for example, it could have been so much better in the layout, but it still hit the hype, pressing panic buttons among the investor folk who went on a hoarding rampage anyway, good layout or not

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

I can understand the value in classics even if they are not pretty-looking At times, that's what makes it 'classic' and extra special, like our exotic 'uglies'. But when it comes to modern issues of the new millennium, come on, there cannot be an excuse in the 21st century! Everyone's faring better, even the smallest and the tiny nations of the world

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

One of the only few Mughal stamps I did like was the recent one of the Taj Mahal. Its quality was better than most of the other variations of Indian stamps I received over the years.

Another poster said that the quality is fine for such a large population. That maybe so but the effort is still needed for stamps not to look like worse than at home printers should be adhered to. Maybe they should look at the corruption that is prevalent in most governmental institutions in the region.

The moral of the story is:

#1
True Indian Collectors want hand struck/poorly printed/color sludged stamps being in year 2012. Their mind is in 1820. They want 1820 material in 2012.

#2 The Postal department is trying hard to do that. That is trying to print uglies with modern printing machines.

#3
If one needs to collect good printed quality stamps he can collect Bhutan, St. Vincent, Tuvalu etc.

#4
Poor printing produces variations and thus excitement for true collectors. While nice printing is boring for the collectors. No variations.

#5 Most importantly, this thread has become completely useless.


(at) Safi - The downfall has been drastic since 2010 and pathetic in 2012. Till 2005 the print quality of our stamps were amazing.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

Mughal stamps???? What era are we talking about???




No.... The reason is absurd...

The 2010 stamps FV is around 500INR but the PO pack costs 670INR. A 33% excess in FV.

Do you know what is worth the extra 170INR???

THIS



The cover costs extra bucks it seems....

Who said this??? The Chief Postmaster of GPO.

If Indiapost could charge extra for above stuff I cant imagine what they will do if they release Yearbooks like other nations???

I collect India and even with a PD account I have on two occasions in past missed out on miniatures being sent by Department. Krishna Deva Raya of FV around 10c now sells for 2USD.

Indiapost NEVER cared for collectors in past and never will they do so in future...

A person buying stamps for 3000 INR with many sheets of stamps gets more respect than someone who walks into the counter and asks for 1 each of past issue just to have them in my collection.

Adding to the poor printing Quality I would say the quality of theme is also poor....

Who from a foreign nation would love to have 5 of this stamp on cover



than this???

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Started to collect post-Independence India, help me complete the voids
http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29439

Collecting Canada (just started) and CHESS on stamps.!!!!!!

Exactly my point

Makes one wonder isn't it? There were so many elegantly produced new issues even till a few years back clearly reflecting the capability of the Indian authorities and then the decline

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

When it comes to Variety in Modern India material, I liked the innovative idea behind the 9 different varieties of the Rath Yatra miniature sheet recently. Now that's acceptable as variety, not some sloppy printing work

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to reflect on God's creation is very fruitful meditation, and to reflect on Man's beauty of a creation - stamps - is no less either!

I have scanned the civil aviation issue





It doesn't look as bad as it was shown in the beginning of the thread.

opkedia

In my opinion, this looks worse than the individual stamps. Looks like someone water colored a piece of paper.

FYI, the images in my first post are being directly served from the India Post Website.

Which of the following point you are trying to prove opkedia52?

#1. We, who are complaining are fools.
#2. India Post is doing a great job.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

That is the reason I said, something is just very very wrong and someone needs to point it out to the authorities.

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

This particular stamp...

If anyone has this miniature or single stamps do check out.

Those metallic bars of the Airplane is not as sharp as it is in this image. All have double impressions, faded and dimmed lines, colour overlap and totally not a design expected from IndiaPost..

The 2003 Aero India miniature a few posts above when compared to this stamp shows the decline quite evidently

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Started to collect post-Independence India, help me complete the voids
http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=29439

Collecting Canada (just started) and CHESS on stamps.!!!!!!

The last good MS that had used good paper and print



And since I collected this issue from different countries worldwide, the Indian issue was at par with most. Albeit not as sophisticated as Iceland (Thermal print) or Aland (Embossed) or Finland (Twin round).

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Always looking for Mint Definitive Sets, UPU 1949 stuffs and Socked on Nose cancellations

All I want to say is that

The basic function of a postage stamp is prepayment of a service to be provided. India post is sticking to its core function by printing limited numbers of stamps with revelence to current topics and modern India history.

If one needs to collect good printed quality stamps he can collect Bhutan, St. Vincent, Tuvalu etc.

I am an old man who enjoy his hobby and can't decide who is a fool.I take the things as it comes and enjoy it.I never said IndiaPost is doing a great job but they are doing their duty to best of their ability.

I think the administrator should block this thread as people are talking about old history and corruption and foolishness rather than stamp collecting.

opkedia