‘Banks must invest more in IT systems’

Mumbai: A day after the RBI asked HDFC Bank to halt digital initiatives and credit card sales, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said that banks need to invest more in information technology to ensure that customers are not put to inconvenience.

Explaining the unprecedented action against the country’s largest private lender, Das said that there have been repeated lapses by the bank. “There have been previous cases of such issues with HDFC Bank. We cannot put thousands and lakhs of customers who are using digital banking into difficulty for hours together, especially when we are giving so much of emphasis on digital banking,” he said.

Das said that if banks want to retain their competitiveness in the coming years, technology and robustness of IT system would be the key. “Banks need to invest more in their technology and strengthen all their systems so that public confidence is maintained,” he said.

On the problems faced by SBI’s Yono mobile app on Thursday, Das said that the RBI would look into it.

Some analysts feel that the glitches in HDFC Bank’s system are an outcome of legacy systems. Bankers say that digital channels have moved from being ‘good to have’ services to the mainstay of their service delivery. For HDFC Bank, over 95% of transactions take place through mobile and internet banking.