Consecutive bank holidays pose problems
CHENNAI:
R Rajaram, a building contractor is a worried man. He is figuring how
to make payments to his labour force and other material suppliers during
the third week of October.
Starting
October 21, banks will be closed till October 25 on account of Ayudha
Pooja, Vijay Dasami, Muharram and fourth Saturday on October 24. The
Reserve Bank of India has mandated banks to observe holiday on the
second and fourth Saturday of every month effective September 1.
Rajaram's
predicament is also because he makes payments every Saturday. "It's an
industry norm and most building contractors in the city are known to
make payments to their workers and other suppliers every Saturday. We
normally withdraw cash on Friday or Saturday morning and pay wages
immediately and settle bills by Saturday afternoon. Now we will have to
withdraw cash much in advance," he said.
On
their part, bankers say that whenever there has been continous holidays
in the past, the Reserve Bank of India has intervened and there has
been a working day in between. "We are awaiting communication from the
Reserve Bank of India in this regard," managing director of Repco Bank, R
Varadarajan said.
Other
bankers said that with customers moving to alternative channels like
ATMs, net banking and mobile banking for meeting their banking needs,
the real impact will be felt by those who will have to visit branches
for banking. "A borrower has to visit the branch during the loan
processing stage. But such customers can now plan their visit either
before or after the holidays. Others can utilise the alternative banking
channels. In any case, 50% of our banking transactions now occur
outside of branches," executive director of Central Bank of India, B K
Divakara said.
Some
other institutions like Federal Bank are looking at ways of deploying
cash collected by their business correspondents in rural and semi urban
areas to meet the cash requirements of customers in urban centres
Regards,
E.R.Iyer
