As J&K Bank’s online banking crashes on Eid eve again, experts call for the bank’s technology upgrade

28 June 2023

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Srinagar, Jun 28: As Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s online banking system, including its mPay transaction app, almost crashed again on the eve of Eidul Azha, its customers, who comprise of J&K’s vast majority, have been again left disappointed on the festival eve.

Reports received from across Jammu & Kashmir, including the posts put on social media, indicate that the online banking system almost completely crashed on Wednesday, bringing the crucial Eid-eve transactions to a halt, and leaving the customers embarrassed and frustrated.

Several customers told Ziraat Times that they expect a bank of the size and potential of J&K Bank to address its technical deficiencies soon, as crashing of the Bank’s online banking platforms could erode trust in the bank’s reputation as J&K’s principal banking entity.

“Fundamentally, it is about inadequate IT infrastructure with the bank, that results in such crashes at crucial times. The bank needs to invest more in strengthening its IT system to bring it at par with the banking industry standards”, said Jaspreet Singh, who specialises in IT interface systems for the financial sector.

Impact on business transactions:

Several businesses that rely on J&K Bank’s online banking services to process payments have been unable to do so on the Eid eve, leaving parties bitter and angry for the parties from whom they expect payments, says Nisar Ahmed, a businessman in Lal Chowk.

“This has lead to delays in deliveries, missed orders, and financial losses”, he said, adding this situation has impacted relations between clients.

“My company needed to transfer salaries to employees through online banking today, but, despite several attempts, it couldn’t work. This had left my employees very sad and disappointed”, said an industrialist, who runs a unit at Khonmoh Industrial Estate.

Some business owners also complained that they were unable to see how much money is in their account or which transactions have been made. “This made it difficult to track expenses and revenue on Eid eve for us risking bouncing of our cheques”, said Basit Nazir, who runs a shop at Anantnag’s Lal Chowk.

Impact on family transactions:

Considering the widespread use of J&K Bank’s online system for family payments, including Eidi, on Eid eve, families found themselves in a difficult situation as they were unable to send or receive Eid related expenses from their loves ones.

This was also the case with individuals who send money to their families from abroad.

“I use J&K Bank’s online banking services to send money to relatives. I was simple unable to do so today. This made me really sad as I had to request a relative to drop some cash with my family”, said Farhana Sideeq, an IT professional working in Dubai.

In addition to business and family transactions, J&K Bank’s online banking failure has also affected other types of transactions, such as paying for goods and services online, making donations, or booking travel.

What experts recommend for the bank to fix this problem:

IT experts believe that the J&K Bank can fix the problem of online banking failures by investing more in its IT infrastructure to safeguard its reputation and reliability.

“Firstly, the bank must upgrade its hardware and software to ensure that it is up to date and can handle the increased load of traffic. This includes upgrading the servers, routers, and switches that make up the bank’s IT infrastructure”, says Syed Athar Kirmani, who specialises in IT hardware, and is based in Bangalore.

Experts also recommend implementing a system of load balancing.

“Load balancing can help to distribute traffic across multiple servers, which can, sometimes, help to prevent any one server from becoming overloaded. I don’t know if the bank is already doing it, but this can be done by using a load balancer appliance or by configuring the servers themselves to distribute traffic”, Mr Athar added.

Experts also believe that the bank needs to implement a robust disaster recovery planning that can help it to ensure that the bank’s online banking services are available even in the event of a major outage.

“That would mean having a backup plan for the hardware, software, and data that are used for online banking”, said Noor ul Haq, a software engineer based in Pune.

A former director at J&K Bank, who prefers not to be named, believes that the bank also needs to hire more IT professionals for meeting the growing demand for online banking.

“Frankly, IT human resource growth has not been commensurate with the bank’s financial growth. It needs more professionals to manage and maintain its IT infrastructure. This will help to ensure that the bank has the expertise it needs to keep its systems up and running”, he said.

He also said that there is a strong need for regular stress testing too.

Stress testing will help to identify any potential problems before they cause an outage. All these measures are very important to maintain J&K Bank’s leadership and reputation among its customers, the former Director added.

Technology reliability in the banking sector is the first determinant for how far your customers would trust you and bank with you, nowadays. That is the bottoming, he abserves.

Repeated attempts to seek the bank’s official response on the situation did not materialise.