Agency Banks will remain open next Saturday and Sunday (Representational)
The Reserve Bank Of India has said that all designated branches of agency banks will remain open on Saturday and Sunday, as a part of “special measures for the current financial year.”
RBI released a statement informing that in order to provide “greater convenience to taxpayers”, agency banks will keep their counters open during office hours on March 30 and 31.
The statement read, “All Government transactions done by agency banks for the Financial Year 2023-24 must be accounted for within the same financial year. Accordingly, the following arrangements are put in place to report and account for Government transactions for March 31, 2024. All Agency banks should keep their designated branches open for over-the-counter transactions related to government transactions up to the normal working hours on March 30 and March 31, 2024.”
In the wake of the annual closing of government accounts, RBI said that electronic transactions can be done till the stipulated time on both days—Saturday and Sunday.
The statement said, “Transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System will continue up to 2400 hours as hitherto on March 31, 2024.”
In a bid to facilitate government receipts and payments, the banks will conduct special clearing “for government cheques both on March 30 and 31, 2024”.
Talking about this necessary arrangement, RBI stated, “Special clearing will be conducted for government cheques both on March 30 & 31, 2024. Agency Banks are hereby advised that all cheques related to Government accounts may be presented on such clearing. The timing for the presentation and return clearing of instruments for these special clearing sessions for government cheques will be intimated in due course.”
RBI also said that the reporting window of March 31 will remain open till noon on April 1.
A statement informing about the opening of the agency banks for the public on Sunday—March 31—was previously released on Wednesday.
That statement read, “The Government of India has made a request to keep all branches of the banks dealing with Government receipts and payments open for transactions on March 31, 2024 (Sunday) so as to account for all the Government transactions relating to receipts and payments in the FY 2023-24 itself. Accordingly, Agency Banks are advised to keep all their branches dealing with government business open on March 31, 2024 (Sunday).”
Agency banks in India include State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB), and regional rural banks (RRBs), among others.