Global Microsoft Outage Impacts Financial Institutions: RBI Reports Minor Disruptions

The RBI reported on Friday that an outage in Microsoft Services affected 10 banks and NBFCs with minor disruptions. The issue, which impacted IT systems globally, has started to be resolved. The RBI assured that key banking systems remain unaffected and advised entities to ensure operational resilience.

A widespread outage in Microsoft Services disrupted flights, banks, media outlets, and companies around the world on Friday. The disruptions persisted hours after Microsoft began resolving the issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, the outage affected 10 banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in India. The RBI noted that the disruptions were minor and have either been resolved or are in the process of being resolved. Additionally, the RBI highlighted that critical banking systems are not cloud-based and only a few banks use the CrowdStrike tool, minimizing the impact.

The RBI assured that the Indian financial sector remains insulated from the global outage and has issued an advisory to its regulated entities to stay vigilant and ensure operational resilience and continuity in their services.

(With inputs from agencies.)