The Press Trust of India was incorporated at Madras on August 27, 1947 with the objective of supplying "economic, efficient, comprehensive, unbiased and reliable news service to all subscribers wherever situated, without discrimination". It began functioning as an independent national news agency in February, 1949 after taking over control of the Associated Press of India, an existing news agency, from its British management.

PTI has come a long way since then. Millions of Indians speaking in a hundred different languages bank on PTI for their daily news. From a purveyor of basic news on slow speed printers, PTI is today emerging as a multi-media giant offering a whole host of services worldwide with state-of-the-art communication systems reaching out to subscribers through the internet, via satellite and on high speed data channels. The whole range of PTI services, be they text, pictures, graphics or screen-based, are available anywhere in the world anytime at the click of a computer-key. Leased landlines crisscrossing India to connect 142 offices give PTI a tremendous reach, and  enables it to send out some 100,000 words every day to meet the specialized needs to its varied customers.

The flagship English news service is available in two forms. Subscribers can either take the 'core' service covering major developments in diverse fields in a compact file, or choose  their own special fare from a menu of comprehensive National, Economic, Commercial and Sports segments. It also runs a news service in Hindi called 'PTI-Bhasha'. Drawing on PTI files, 'Bhasha' provides a comprehensive service covering everything from arts to science and politics to sports.

PTI makes its presence felt abroad as one of the leading news agencies in the Asia Pacific region. Its subscribers include 450 newspapers in various languages, within the country and outside. All major TV/Radio channels in India and several of them overseas receive PTI service.

The stamp design symbolically represents the work of PTI as India's premier news agency. The Department of Posts is happy to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of PTI through the issue of this stamp.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India