Bulk SMS ban extended until Ayodhya verdict, affects banking

The government's decision yesterday to extend the ban on all bulk SMS services until 30 September, after the Supreme Court decided to defer by a week its judgement in the Ayodhya land title suit, has unintentionally affected banking transactions in the country.

In order to comply with the centre's rule, banks and financial companies have stopped sending SMS's alerts to customers and equity trading account holders on transactions carried out via the ATM or internet, which had, till now been mandatory.

In the case of credit card holders, banks will not alert them on a transaction taking place, even fraudulent ones, which under normal circumstances are made within a few minutes of the payment being made.

Since banks cannot find out whether a credit card transaction is genuine or fraudulent, banks like HDFC Bank have warned their customers to be extra cautious during the period until 29 September.

"We would advise you to exercise additional caution in your banking and credit card transactions," HDFC Bank informed its customers through its website.

ICIC Bank said, "In view of the government of India directive to ban all bulk SMS's in all service areas till further notice, customers will not receive SMS alerts or messages during this period.''