SBI EMI deferment does not require OTP sharing

The State Bank of India (SBI) informed customers via its official Twitter handle that deferment of equated monthly instalments (EMI) does not require them to share their one-time passwords (OTP) with the bank. Therefore, one should not respond to such messages to avail the benefit of EMI moratorium, warned the bank.

As per the bank's tweet, "Cyber fraudsters keep finding new ways to scam people. The only way to beat the #cybercriminals is to #BeAlert & be aware. Please note that EMI Deferment does not require OTP sharing. Do not share your OTP."


According to the bank, in such a fraud, the SBI customer gets a call asking them to share their OTP to avail of the EMI moratorium. Once the OTP is shared, the amount is immediately siphoned away by the fraudsters.

SBI's EMI moratorium
SBI loan customers who want to defer the payment of EMIs are required to submit an application through an email to the specified email ID if the EMI is debited via National Automated Clearing Hospital (NACH). If the EMI is debited via standing instructions, then borrowers are required to submit an application through an email to the specified email ID.

Customers whose EMI is already debited and wants a refund, are required to submit an application through an email to a specified email ID.

The email where the application is to be sent is specific to a particular region which can be accessed here.

Customers who are unable to send application through email can submit handwritten application in a specified format to the home branch.

According to bank's website, deferment of EMI/NACH or refund of EMI may take approximately 7 working days.

As per bank's website, customers who do not want to stop the payment of EMI/instalment are not required to do anything. They will continue to pay as usual.

Banks have started providing the option of deferment of EMIs to borrowers after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked all lending institutions to provide EMI moratorium on term loans.