Power failure at HDFC Bank primary data centre disrupts internet banking
Nov 2020Published 13 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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Companies named in this entry: HDFC Bank
What happened
On 21 November 2020, HDFC Bank's internet banking and payment system suffered an outage. The bank said in a regulatory filing that the outage was caused by a power failure in its primary data centre, and that internet banking and payment services were disrupted. The bank's filing also referred to several earlier outages in its internet banking, mobile banking and payment utilities over the previous two years. In an order dated 2 December 2020, the Reserve Bank of India directed the bank to temporarily stop launching digital business-generating activities under its Digital 2.0 programme and other proposed IT applications, and to stop sourcing new credit card customers.
The order also directed the board to examine the lapses and fix accountability. The restrictions are to be lifted after satisfactory compliance with the RBI's major critical observations. The bank said it expected no impact on existing credit cards, digital banking channels and operations.
Contributing factors
The sources do not state the cause of the power failure, such as whether it originated in the grid supply, the UPS, a generator or switchgear. The Reserve Bank of India order cited several earlier outages in internet banking, mobile banking and payment utilities and directed the board to examine lapses.
Lessons learned
- Primary data centre power paths, including UPS, generator and switchgear, should be tested under failover conditions so that a single power failure does not take down customer-facing services.
- Repeated outages of the same kind can lead a regulator to restrict new digital launches, so recurring incidents should be tracked and root-caused across the whole period, not only the latest event.
- Boards should own remediation of outage lapses and document accountability and progress against regulatory observations.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, emergency response and public communication, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Source
Published 2026-10-13. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
