New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issues new directives to its banks daily. A few days ago, the RBI instructed banks to migrate their net banking website addresses to another internet domain, ‘.bank.in’, by October 31, 2025. A deadline was also set for this. This information was provided by the RBI through a letter dated April 21, 2025.
Many banks have taken this step and have already made the change. This means that the deadline for this has already passed, as today is November 1. Indian banks have migrated their official website URLs to the ‘.bank.in’ domain in accordance with RBI directives. The RBI’s rationale for this initiative was to address cybersecurity, security concerns, and curb fraud. This is also intended to significantly increase public confidence in digital banking.
What are the new URLs for some banks?
ICICI Bank: https://www.icici.bank.in/, HDFC Bank: https://www.hdfc.bank.in/, Axis Bank: https://www.axis.bank.in/, Kotak Mahindra Bank: https://www.kotak.bank.in/en/home.html, Punjab National Bank: https://pnb.bank.in/, and State Bank of India: https://sbi.bank.in. In a notification, the RBI stated that it has now decided to open the ‘.bank.in’ domain for banks through the Institute for Research and Development in Banking (IDRBT).
It has been authorised by the Indian National Internet Exchange, under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, to act as the exclusive registrar for this domain. Banks can contact IDRBT at [email protected] to begin the registration process. The IDRBT will guide banks on various aspects related to the application process and migration to the new domain.
What did the RBI indicate earlier?
For information, the Reserve Bank of India surprised everyone by stating on February 7, 2025. The RBI stated in the statement that the initiative aims to eliminate cybersecurity threats and malicious activities such as phishing, streamline secure financial services, and increase trust in digital banking and payment services. The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) will act as the special registrar.