Banks, LIC, tax department are open on Sunday: Transactions you can do on March 31

March 31, the last working day of this financial year, is open for business. To resolve complications and ease financial year closure, the Reserve Bank of India, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and the Income Tax Department have made March 31 as a working day.

Banks will be open

As per an RBI note, all agency banks dealing with government transactions will continue operations on March 31. These agency banks have been delegated to manage financial matters pertaining to governmental sectors. Services that will be available:

NEFT and RTGS

RBI has said transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System will continue up to mid night on March 31.

Cheque clearing

All cheques related to Government accounts may be presented for clearing. 

Transactions relating to the following government business undertaken by agency banks include:

> Revenue receipts and payments on behalf of the Central/State Government
> Pension payments in respect of Central / State Governments
> Special Deposit Scheme (SDS) 1975
> Public Provident Fund (PPF) Scheme, 1968
> Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), 2004
> Kisan Vikas Patra, 2014 and Sukanya Samriddhi Account

Any other item of work specifically advised by Reserve Bank as eligible for agency commission (viz. Relief Bonds/ Savings Bonds etc. transactions)

Banks which will be open

The RBI has designated 33 agency banks to remain operational on this significant date. This list comprises 12 public sector banks, including prominent names such as the State Bank of India (SBI) and the Bank of Baroda (BoB), alongside 20 private sector banks, with HDFC Bank Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd among them. Additionally, DBS Bank India Ltd. represents the sole foreign bank in this arrangement. These banks are set to provide full services on March 31.

Public Sector Banks
1. Bank of Baroda
2. Bank of India
3. Bank of Maharashtra
4. Canara Bank
5. Central Bank of India
6. Indian Bank
7. Indian Overseas Bank
8. Punjab and Sind Bank
9. Punjab National Bank
10. State Bank of India
11. UCO Bank
12. Union Bank of India
Private Sector Banks
13. Axis Bank Ltd
14. City Union Bank Ltd
15. DCB Bank Ltd
16. Federal Bank Ltd
17. HDFC Bank Ltd
18. ICICI Bank Ltd
19. IDBI Bank Ltd
20. IDFC FIRST Bank Ltd
21. IndusInd Bank Ltd
22. Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd
23. Karnataka Bank Ltd
24. Karur Vysya Bank Ltd
25. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd
26. RBL Bank Ltd
27. South Indian Bank Ltd
28. Yes Bank Ltd
29. Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd
30. Bandhan Bank Ltd
31. CSB Bank Ltd
32. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd
Foreign banks
33. DBS Bank India Limited 

Insurance offices
IRDAI has also asked its offices to be open on March 30 and March 31.

"In order to avoid any hardships to policyholders, the insurers are hereby advised to keep their offices open as per normal working hours on March 30, 2024 and March 31, 2024. The insurers may take note and give adequate publicity to the special arrangement made as above," IRDAI said in a notification issued on March 28, 2024.

LIC offices

In a recent tweet, LIC said: "It has been decided that offices under the jurisdiction of zones and divisions will be kept open for normal operations as per official working hours on 30.3.2024 and 31.3.2024, in order to avoid any hardships for policyholders. This is as per advisory issued by IRDAI on March 28, 2024." 

Income Tax department

Earlier this month, the Income-Tax department announced that it will not be observing this long weekend and will remain operational from March 29 to March 31 to facilitate the completion of pending tax-related tasks. 

"To facilitate completion of pending departmental work, all the Income Tax Offices throughout India shall remain open on 29th, 30th and 31st March 2024," said the Income-tax department in an order dated March 18, 2024.

The extended deadline until March 31 will allow individuals to fulfill tax obligations like updating income tax returns for 2021-22 and making tax-saving investments efficiently. This extra time helps reduce stress and ensures compliance with tax regulations. Make the most of these additional working days to manage your finances effectively.