RBI Confirms Indian Banks Insulated From Global Microsoft Outage Impact

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has conducted an in-depth assessment to gauge the impact of a recent Microsoft outage on its regulated entities. The evaluation revealed that around 10 banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) experienced minor disruptions. These issues have either been resolved or are currently being addressed, according to the RBI.

Critical systems of most banks are not hosted in the cloud, and only a few have adopted the CrowdStrike tool for cybersecurity, the central bank noted. The RBI also issued an advisory to its regulated entities, urging them to take proactive measures to maintain operational resilience and continuity.

Impact on Various Sectors

The widespread Microsoft outage disrupted operations across diverse sectors globally, including aviation, media, and financial markets. In India, airlines such as Akasa, IndiGo, Air India, and SpiceJet faced operational challenges due to the outage. In the United States, carriers like Frontier Airlines, Allegiant, and SunCountry reported disruptions affecting their services.

The RBI stated that "Overall, the Indian financial sector in the Reserve Bank's domain remains insulated from the global outage." This statement highlights that despite the global IT disruption, India's financial sector managed to stay largely unaffected.

Proactive Measures Advised

The central bank has urged its regulated entities to adopt proactive measures to ensure operational resilience. This advisory aims to help these entities maintain continuity in their operations despite potential future disruptions.

Global IT systems were significantly disrupted by this outage, impacting various sectors worldwide. The aviation industry was notably affected both in India and abroad. For instance, Maruti Suzuki reported a brief halt in production due to the global IT outage.

The RBI's assessment underscores that while some disruptions occurred within Indian banks and NBFCs, these were minor and are being swiftly addressed. This proactive approach by the RBI aims to safeguard India's financial sector from similar future incidents.