CHENNAI: A Microsoft service outage disrupted business operations at IT companies in Chennai and delayed high-value banking transactions on Friday, exposing the dependence of businesses and financial institutions on cloud-based services and digital communication infrastructure.
The disruption affected access to customer emails, system notifications and critical business applications in the IT sector in Chennai, while banks faced delays in processing certain high-value transactions that required email-based confirmations and clearances.
At IT companies, employees were unable to access important transactions, customer communications and notifications required by production support teams. The disruption began in the morning and continued intermittently until around 5pm-6pm, with services gradually recovering in the evening, according to employees familiar with the impact.
Employees continued working despite the disruption, although routine activities were affected and some meetings had to be postponed.
The banking sector also experienced operational difficulties, although routine banking services were largely unaffected. The impact was concentrated on high-value transactions, particularly those involving sums of `1 crore or more, for which banks need to obtain formal confirmations through email before proceeding with clearances.
“Important transactions requiring cheque clearances and other confirmations were affected,” a banking source said.
The banking source said the disruption was felt mainly in the morning and that operations appeared to have returned to normal by the evening.
Communication between exporters and overseas customers was delayed including the exchange of commercial documents like Letters of Credit (LCs). “Some customer emails have not come through today. Communication is important in today’s business environment, but a one-day disruption is unlikely to make a major difference to export operations,” said former vice-president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Israr Ahmed.
