In a major reprieve for HDFC Bank, the Reserve Bank of India has lifted the restriction on the business generating activities planned under the bank’s Digital 2.0 programme.
This was communicated to the bank by a letter from the RBI on March 11.
“The members of the Board of Directors have taken note of said RBI letter,” the private sector lender said in a stock exchange filing on Saturday.
The RBI had in December 2020 barred HDFC Bank from launching new digital products or services and issuing new credit cards following outages in its mobile and internet banking services.
In February 2021, the RBI had also appointed an external IT firm for carrying out a special audit of the IT infrastructure of the private sector lender.
“We would like to extend our gratitude to the regulator for this action. We are fully committed to ensuring continued adherence to the highest standards of compliance with RBI recommendations,” HDFC Bank said in a separate media statement.
The private sector lender further said that it has utilised this time to draw up short, medium, and long-term plans to meet the evolving digital requirements of its customers.
“We will roll out these initiatives in the days to come,” it said.
The decision by the RBI will give a major boost to the lender, which has been hoping to further expand its digital offerings to customers.
Amongst its digital initiatives, the bank is expected to launch digital enhanced features and new offerings PayZap 2.0 and SmartBuy 2.0 in the second quarter of 2022-23, said a recent report by ICICI Securities.
In August last year, it had lifted the restrictions on the bank for issuing of new credit cards.