State Bank of India (SBI) customers encountered disruptions in internet and mobile banking services for the second time this month, following technical issues that affected users across the country. The outage led to failures in mobile banking access and fund transfers, frustrating many customers.
According to data from Downdetector, a surge in outage reports was observed between 11:00 AM and 11:30 AM IST. The majority of complaints (64%) were related to mobile banking, while 33% pertained to fund transfer failures, and 3% reported issues with ATMs. Many affected customers took to social media to express their concerns about failed transactions and account access difficulties.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) acknowledged the issue, stating that some banks faced intermittent transaction failures due to the financial year-end closing. However, it clarified that the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system was functioning properly and assured customers that they were coordinating with banks to address the disruptions.
This incident follows a similar outage on March 11, when SBI customers faced UPI and mobile banking service failures for over four hours. The bank later confirmed that the issue was resolved by 5 PM on that day and apologized for the inconvenience caused to its 50 crore customers. However, no specific reason for the recurring technical problems has been disclosed.
Regulatory authorities, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have been emphasizing the need for banks to invest in robust backend infrastructure to ensure seamless digital banking experiences. The central bank has been pressing financial institutions to minimize service outages and expedite the resolution process to avoid inconvenience to customers. Stricter measures may be imposed on banks that fail to comply with these expectations.
With the increasing reliance on digital banking, such disruptions raise concerns about the resilience of banking infrastructure. SBI customers and stakeholders will be hoping for a long-term resolution to prevent further service interruptions in the future.