The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has removed the supervisory restrictions on Kotak Mahindra Bank, allowing it to resume onboarding new customers via online and mobile banking channels and restart issuing new credit cards.
In April 2024, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered the bank to halt digital customer onboarding and credit card issuance due to serious deficiencies in its IT infrastructure. These issues, identified during RBI’s 2022 and 2023 examinations, included frequent outages in the core banking system and digital platforms, with a major disruption occurring on April 15, 2024.
In response, Kotak Mahindra Bank implemented corrective measures, appointing Grant Thornton Bharat as an external auditor and strengthening its internal technology team by partnering with firms like Accenture, Infosys, Oracle, and Cisco. These initiatives aimed to enhance IT resilience and regulatory compliance.
After assessing the bank’s remedial actions and compliance reports, the Reserve Bank of India found the improvements satisfactory and decided to lift the restrictions, allowing Kotak Mahindra Bank to fully restore its digital customer acquisition and credit card issuance.
This decision highlights the RBI’s focus on strong IT governance in the banking sector and the importance of addressing regulatory concerns swiftly to maintain seamless operations.
