Indian Financial Systems Insulated Amid Global Microsoft Outage

A widespread Microsoft outage affected global IT systems, disrupting various sectors including banks. The Indian financial sector, however, remained largely unaffected with only minor disruptions in a few banks, which have since been resolved. Major institutions like SBI and NPCI reported no impact on their operations.

The Indian financial and payments systems remained largely unaffected by the Microsoft services outage, with minor disruptions reported in about 10 banks and NBFCs. These issues have either been resolved or are being fixed.

A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted operations globally, affecting flights, banks, media outlets, and companies. Microsoft stated it's in the process of gradually fixing issues affecting access to its 365 apps and services.

CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity software firm, released an update that led to disruptions in Windows-based desktops and laptops. This has caused widespread impacts on IT systems.

The Reserve Bank of India conducted an assessment and found that critical systems of most banks are not cloud-based and only a few institutions are using the CrowdStrike tool. As a result, the Indian financial sector remains insulated from the global outage.

SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara confirmed that SBI, the country's largest lender, remains unaffected. NPCI chief executive Dilip Asbe also stated that the country's payments architecture remains unaffected.

HDFC Bank, a major private sector lender, confirmed that their systems were functioning normally without any impact from the outage. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank also reported normal operations.

The Reserve Bank of India has issued an advisory to ensure operational resilience among its regulated entities.

(With inputs from agencies.)