“We would like to inform all that the Reserve Bank of India has lifted restrictions on business creation activities planned under the Bank’s Digital 2.0 programme,” HDFC Bank said in a stock exchange filing.
In September 2021, RBI lifted the ban on HDFC Bank on issuing new credit cards.
In December 2020, RBI barred HDFC Bank from launching any new digital products or services and issuing new credit cards until recurring technical issues are resolved by the lender.
The bank plans to introduce multiple digital products over the last six months to the next 15-24 months. In the short term, it is focusing on critical services such as payments, cards and customer experience. At the end of the year 2021, the bank upgraded its IT platform. HDFC Bank shares closed marginally higher at Rs 1,396 on the NSE on Friday.
HDFC Bank said that it is fully committed to ensuring continued adherence to the highest standards of compliance with the RBI’s recommendations. “We have used this time to formulate short, medium and long term plans to meet the evolving digital needs of our customers and we will be rolling out these initiatives in the coming days. We are delighted that we will once again be able to offer our customers best-in-class services and will continue to serve them with dedication and humility.”
In December 2020, the central bank had asked HDFC Bank to halt all launches of its upcoming digital business-generating activities and sourcing of new credit card customers following repeated outages at its data centre, which affected operations.
Apart from this, the RBI had also directed the bank board to investigate the lapses and fix accountability. In August last year, the RBI partially lifted the ban on HDFC Bank from allowing new credit cards to be issued. The private lender had then said that it had issued a record credit card after partially lifting the ban.
HDFC Bank has lost a lot of ground during its ban on new credit card customers and digital launches. However, after the ban is lifted, the private lender has doubled down on its efforts to woo new customers. Removal of restrictions that create digital business in the next few months will also augur well for the bank and the bank can aggressively pursue new digital launches.