HDFC Bank plans to launch new mobile app, site by Mar

HDFC Bank Ltd, India’s largest private lender, plans to launch a revamped mobile app and an internet banking website by March, over five years after an upgraded app faced glitches and had to be rolled back in a week.

- Shayan Ghosh

The bank will start a closed user group trial by December and then roll it out to other users by the end of March, Anjani Rathor, chief digital officer of the bank, said in an interview. “We have taken feedback from customers. It will be a lot more intuitive and simpler to use," said Rathor, who joined the bank in February 2020 after 12 years at Bharti Airtel.

After facing technology troubles in 2018 and 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in December 2020 curbed fresh digital launches and ordered it to halt issuing new credit cards. These were finally lifted in March 2022, allowing the bank to roll out products under its ‘Digital 2.0’ plan.

The bank said in its 2019-20 annual report that Digital 2.0 is about reimagining its digital platforms, “providing the customer with a frictionless financial experience".

Meanwhile, the app that had to be rolled back was eventually relaunched, The Hindu Business Line reported in March 2019.