RBI finally lifts all curbs on HDFC Bank, including new digital launches

“The RBI vide its letter dated March 11, 2022 has lifted the restrictions on the business generating activities planned under the Bank’s Digital 2.0 program. The members of the Board of Directors have taken note of said RBI letter,” the lender said.

On Friday, HDFC Bank shares closed marginally higher at ₹1,396 apiece on NSE.

HDFC Bank said it is fully committed to ensuring continued adherence to the highest standards of compliance with RBI recommendations.

“We have utilised this time to draw up short, medium, and long-term plans to meet the evolving digital requirements of our customers and we will roll out these initiatives in the days to come. We are happy that we will once again be able to offer our customers our full suite of best-in- class services and continue to serve them with dedication and humility,” it said.

The Central bank in December 2020 had asked HDFC Bank to stop all launches of its upcoming digital business-generating activities and sourcing of new credit card customers after repeated outages at its data centre which impacted operations.

In addition, the RBI had also directed the bank board to examine the lapses and fixes accountability.

In August last year, RBI had partially lifted ban on HDFC Bank allowing it to resume issuing new credit cards. The private lender back then said it had issued a record credit cards after the partial lifting of curbs.

HDFC Bank has lost a lot of ground during its embargo on new credit card customers and digital launches. However, post the lifting of curbs, the private lender has doubled down on its efforts to woo new customers.

Lifting of digital business-generating restrictions too would augur well for the bank over the next few months and the Bank could aggressively pursue new digital launches.