Over 34,000 public sector banks branches to lose Windows XP support from April, 2014

As per a study conducted by software giant Ascentius Consulting on behalf of Microsoft, over 34,000 branches of Indian public sector banks would become susceptible as the popular Windows XP operating system would no longer be supported by Microsoft from April 8, 2014.
As per the study, the penetration of Windows XP in the Indian banking sector is as high 70% and around 34,115 Indian PSU bank branches are vulnerable due to their dependence on Windows XP.
The study adds that amongst the greatest risks facing banks that maintain their Windows XP installations, despite the end of support, are their ability to respond to customers and manage waiting times.

How closing of Windows XP support by Microsoft could impact the banking business?

The study estimates that the fiscal impact of this could be as much as a loss of business opportunity worth Rs 1,100 crore in a day and a loss of income worth Rs 330 crore over a period of 3 days (assuming that a major incident may take 3 days for the systems to come up to normal functioning).
Banking branches in rural and semi-urban areas that depend on XP may completely deny service to customers. The impact may be as severe as 55% in metro and urban branches where customers may face an extended waiting time of up to 30 minutes for an average transaction.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2013