Long Bank Holidays to Disrupt Financial Transaction, Salaries, Says Assocham; Seeks Help From RBI

In view of the seven holidays between 28 March and 5 April, Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make arrangements to avoid inconvenience to the customers as this will affect financial transactions in the stock markets, export and shipments, and salary payments.

The Assocham secretary-general DS Rawat released a statement saying they will approach RBI to map out alternatives to avoid inconvenience to the customers and also sought help from the Finance Ministry, PTI reported.

"We would urge the RBI to step in and advise the banks to make some arrangements. With the government being the majority owners of the public sector banks, the Finance Ministry should also prevail on the bank managements to avoid this kind of huge customer inconvenience and widespread disruption to the business environment," Rawat said in the statement.

The seven bank holidays started from Saturday, 28 March, which was a holiday for Ram Navami, followed by Sunday.

Following the two-day off, banks will resume work on Monday, 30 March, only to go back on a four-day-long holiday, including festivals and annual closing of accounts.

The banks will open again on Saturday, 4 April, but only for a few hours, as it will be a half-working day and will again be out of service on Sunday, 5 April. The banks will start to function without frequent disruptions from 6 April.

Here's the list of all holidays that will fall between the above-mentioned dates and also the days on which banks will remain open.