SBI Mobile and Internet Banking Services Offline for 3 Hours on April 1: Find Out Why?

Did you struggle with your online banking transactions today? If so, you weren’t alone. On April 1, 2025, State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest public sector bank, faced a significant technical disruption that affected millions of customers nationwide. Mobile banking services, fund transfers, and ATM operations were impacted, leaving users frustrated during one of the most crucial periods of the financial year.

Let’s understand the reasons behind this temporary disruption, its impact on customers, and the statements from the bank and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) regarding the outage.

SBI’s Mobile Banking and Internet Services Affected

SBI, which serves millions of customers across the country, was forced to shut down its digital banking services temporarily due to technical issues that coincided with the year-end financial activities. These activities are often complex and involve several systems working behind the scenes to close the accounts for the fiscal year and prepare for the new one.

According to reports from Downdetector, a platform that tracks service outages, complaints about SBI’s mobile banking surged significantly between 11:00 and 11:30 AM IST. A staggering 64% of these complaints were related to mobile banking issues, 33% to fund transfer problems, and 3% were linked to ATM services.

This disruption occurred as SBI customers struggled to access their accounts, process transactions, or make fund transfers. The issue arose during a time of high demand, as many users were managing their finances to transition into the new financial year, FY 2025-26.

SBI’s Response to the Issue

In response to the outage, SBI issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter), informing customers about the reason behind the disruption. The bank explained that the downtime was part of their annual closing activities, and digital services would be unavailable between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on April 1.

SBI advised customers to use UPI Lite and ATM channels during this time to ensure uninterrupted access to banking services. Although SBI attributed the disruptions to audit processes and year-end activities, there was no official confirmation about the exact cause of the glitches experienced earlier in the day.

NPCI’s Statement on the UPI System

Along with SBI’s announcement, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) also took to X to address concerns from users experiencing intermittent transaction declines. The NPCI, which operates the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) system, clarified that the UPI infrastructure itself remained operational despite some transaction issues faced by certain banks.

NPCI stated, “Today, due to the financial year closing, some of the banks are facing intermittent transaction declines. The UPI system is working fine, and we are working with the concerned banks for necessary redressal.” This statement helped ease the concerns of many users who were worried about the UPI system’s overall functionality.

The Potential Impact of New UPI Rules

One of the potential reasons behind the issues could be the implementation of new UPI rules, which came into effect on April 1. These rules require mobile numbers to be actively linked to the user’s bank account in order for transactions to proceed smoothly.

As this rule was introduced on the very first day of the new financial year, it may have contributed to the difficulties many users faced during their banking activities. The timing of the new UPI rule, along with the annual closing processes of banks, created the perfect storm for this temporary disruption.

What’s Next for SBI and UPI Users?

While the disruptions on April 1 were frustrating for many users, it is important to note that such issues are not uncommon during the year-end closing activities. Banks like SBI, with their large customer base, face an increased load as they prepare for the transition to the new financial year.

For now, SBI has promised to work on resolving the issues, and the NPCI is coordinating with affected banks to address any remaining glitches. It’s important for customers to stay updated on any further developments and ensure that their UPI-linked mobile numbers are active to avoid transaction declines in the future.

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