Sept. 2: A network collapse forced HDFC Bank to limit retail transactions across the country to just Rs 5,000 per account, sending stunned customers scrambling for cash at the start of the month.
The technical glitch particularly hurt those with corporate salary accounts. Many people complained that their pay hadn’t been credited into their accounts.
Long queues formed outside ATMs. There were reports that debit cards couldn’t be used at merchant establishments after they had been swiped for Rs 5,000 at ATMs.
“The bank’s retail and Netbanking services crashed today because of snags in certain aspects of the application software. As a result, sums couldn’t be credited into accounts. But our technical people are working on the problem and we hope to resume all our services shortly,” a bank spokesperson said in Mumbai.
“Other banking services such as corporate banking, depository services, treasury and credit cards were working perfectly,” the official added.
Bidhan Ghosh, who landed his first job last month, said: “I needed to withdraw about Rs 10,000 for my house rent and electricity and phone bills. The salary was transferred into my account on August 30. When I went to withdraw the amount, I could not do so.”
HDFC Bank has a nation-wide network of 1,229 branches and 2,526 ATMs in 444 towns and cities. It has over 12 million retail customers. This is the first time that a technical glitch has affected retail customers of a bank on such a scale.
Retail banking services at the country’s second-largest private-sector bank collapsed around 8am.
Customers were in for a shock when they discovered they could neither deposit nor withdraw cash from their accounts at branches, ATMs or through the Netbanking facility.
Netbanking users were frustrated to see a message on the website that read: “Dear customer, you may face some problem in your Netbanking transaction for some time today. We are attending to this on a priority basis and hope to have it resolved soon. We regret the inconvenience caused to you.”
Madhusudan Hegde, senior vice-president and regional head (east), HDFC Bank, said: “The inconvenience cropped up because of a link failure. All efforts are being made to rectify the problem as soon as possible.”
However, the bank officials refused to say when the problem would be sorted out.
Dhiman Pal, a resident of Behala, said: “I had to settle a hospital bill. I went to withdraw Rs 15,000 from the ATM at No. 14 bus stand. I couldn’t do so and had to settle the bill with my credit card.”
Officials said the bank had permitted withdrawal of a maximum of Rs 5,000 per account, either from a bank branch or from an ATM, to alleviate the problems of customers. However, they were asked to produce photo identity cards at a branch to withdraw Rs 5,000.
“This is an offline mode. While giving money, we usually check the photo and signature of a customer online. But we could not do it today. So we asked for a photo-identity card of the customer,” Hegde said.
