This weekend, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank— two of India's biggest private sector banks—are looking at major system upgrades that will disrupt services for an estimated 140 million customers. HDFC Bank will replace its existing core banking system with a new engineered platform on July 13, serving 93.2 million customers. The exercise will involve a 13.5-hour outage and is carried out to improve customer experience but will restrict several banking services.
HDFC Bank customers will not be able to make transactions during the upgrade process. Debit and credit cards may still be utilized for making payments and withdrawals with limited amounts. However, UPI services will be ceased between 3:00 a.m. to 3:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on the day of upgradation. Card payment by merchants shall continue, but updating accounts of the same with respect to previous-day transactions shall be deferred until after the upgrade.
Meanwhile, Axis Bank will undertake maintenance from 10 pm on July 12 to 9 am on July 14, and it has 48 million customers. The disruption would hit Internet Banking and Mobile Banking Application services, fund transfer services through NEFT, RTGS, and IMPS, credit card transactions, subscription of mutual funds, and loan services, among others. These services will not be available on July 13 and July 14 while Axis Bank undergoes essential system upgrades.
This has been announced at a time when Axis Bank is also integrating the retail business of Citi India, which it acquired on March 1, 2023. This acquisition integration was earlier expected to be completed within a period of 18 months as part of its expansion and augmentation strategies of services offered by Axis Bank.
The banks, realizing the inconvenience that may arise during the transition period, are taking a well-thought-out decision to exit their respective customer bases much in advance. Customers are therefore advised to plan accordingly based on the temporary limits on banking services during this critical period.
