Major glitch hits second phase of Advance Postal Technology 2.0 implementation over software’s inability to handle customer booking load; after APT 2.0 was adopted, no major issues were reported
A queue at the Santacruz West post office on Tuesday. Pic/Madhulika Ram Kavattur
Technical glitches have brought post offices across Mumbai to a near standstill since Monday morning, as the Advanced Postal Technology (APT) 2.0 system, which was introduced in major post offices across the country on July 22 on a pilot basis, could not handle the number of bookings made by people ahead of Raksha Bandhan. After APT 2.0 was adopted, no major issues were reported. However, shortly after the second phase was initiated, on August 4, customers complained of delays, stating that the system was not able to bear the number of bookings made by people.
Mahesh Nair, who visited Andheri’s DN Nagar post office, told mid-day, “Within 15 minutes of the second phase of the new technology being inaugurated on Monday, officials experienced a server glitch and stopped taking article bookings. The matter was not resolved for the rest of the day, and even today [Tuesday], the Juhu and DN Nagar post offices have not been able to take many orders due to the server overload.”
The post office in DN Nagar, Andheri, shortly before the second phase of the APT 2.0 system was launched on Monday. Pic/By Special Arrangement
He added, “There was a man in the line who had just sent in a money order to his family, but right as the process was about to end, a server glitch happened and he didn’t get his receipt. Now, we don’t know if his family even received or will receive the money order.” Vandana Singh, a visitor to the Santacruz West post office, told mid-day, “I have been waiting here for half-an-hour today [Tuesday], and had waited for hours on Monday, but they keep saying every few minutes that the server had been restored, and the very next minute it would crash. I had come to send rakhis to my brothers. With these technical snags, I doubt my brothers will receive the rakhis in time.”
With Raksha Bandhan around the corner, post offices have seen an increase in visitors. A woman at the Santacruz East post office, on the condition of anonymity, said, “I have been here since 11.45 am, and after two hours of waiting, when it was my turn, the server crashed again. This is unacceptable.” She added, “I was able to send rakhis to my brothers through domestic courier services, but for international couriers, such private services are very costly, which is why we opted for India Post, and this is what we have to face.”
The Santacruz West post office on Tuesday. Pic/Madhulika Ram Kavattur
Another visitor said he was at the General Post Office in Fort all of Monday, struggling to send my family in Indore insurance paperwork. “But I couldn’t send it because of the technical issues, and missed my deadline. The authorities must ensure normalcy is restored as soon as possible,” he said.
‘Pan-India issue’
A statement released by the Mumbai GPO reads, “The system is running very low from 10 am to 5 pm. The entire rollout across all post offices in India is expected to be completed by end of August 2025.”
A Mumbai GPO official, speaking to mid-day, termed the technical glitches a minor hiccup, which is a Pan-India issue that would be sorted out soon. “Due to the technical glitches, we have seen fewer article bookings than usual, but we believe the issue has been solved for the most part,” the official stated. The ground reality, however, suggests otherwise, as till late evening on August 5, many post offices were not taking any orders.
The APT 2.0 is an indigenously designed technology, which, according to Mumbai GPO officials, has shown fewer glitches than the previous ones. The test trials of the technology had also not indicated any possible issues, they claimed. “This new technology is first and one of a kind, which is why it is taking a little bit of time for our tech teams to get it sorted,” the official added.
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