HDFC Bank has announced refunding the GPS device commission to auto loan customers who availed of such device as a part of the auto loan funding during fiscal years 2013-14 to the fiscal year 2019-20.

On Thursday, in a public notice in a newspaper, HDFC Bank announced that the refund will be credited to the customer’s repayment bank account registered with the bank. HDFC bank has been in the middle of a controversy over the alleged misselling of GPS devices to its auto loan customers. On May 28, the Reserve Bank of India had imposed a monetary penalty of ₹10 crores on HDFC Bank after finding irregularities based on a whistleblower complaint in the bank’s auto loan portfolio. RBI investigated documents in the matter of marketing and sales of third-party non-financial products to the bank’s customers, which showed infringement of the provisions of the act and the regulatory directions. HDFC Bank had last year conducted an internal investigation into accusations regarding the customers of its car loans being given GPS devices without their knowledge, the cost of the device is known to be approximately ₹18,000. These allegations initially came up on social media.

At the annual general meeting on July 18 last year, HDFC bank’s former Managing Director and CEO Aditya Puri had confirmed that the bank had conducted an inquiry into vehicle loans and suitable action has been taken against the employees who were involved in the wrongdoing, causing several executives from the bank to exit.