India’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank experienced an unexpected disruption in its net-banking and mobile banking services on Monday, leaving many customers unable to complete transactions through the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems.
The outage, which lasted for over an hour, led to widespread frustration among users, who took to social media to voice their complaints.
Customers reported difficulty accessing both the net-banking portal and mobile app, with many receiving error messages or maintenance alerts when attempting to log in. Several users posted on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter) about their inability to perform basic banking functions during the downtime. One customer expressed concern over the prolonged outage, while another mentioned being unable to log in for over an hour due to the issue.
In response to the disruption, HDFC Bank confirmed that the downtime was necessary to address technical issues affecting specific operations, including NEFT and RTGS transactions. A spokesperson for the bank stated that the issue had been resolved and that services were restored promptly.
The incident comes after HDFC Bank’s past struggles with technical issues, which had drawn regulatory scrutiny. In December 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a temporary ban on the bank, preventing it from issuing new credit cards and launching digital initiatives until its tech problems were addressed. Following significant investments in upgrading its infrastructure, the restrictions were lifted in March 2022.
As part of its efforts to modernise its systems, the bank had previously moved its payments platform outside of its core banking operations to ensure minimal disruption during technical issues. HDFC Bank has also established a dedicated technology center in Bengaluru aimed at strengthening its digital banking services.