No 5-day long holiday for banks; March 31 to be working day

Unlike what news reports mentioned earlier, banks won't remain shut for 5 consecutive days starting March 29, a union leader clarified on Monday. "Banks will work on March 31 (Saturday) and there is no continuous holidays as per messages on social media," D Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev, General Secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation told IANS. He also added that banks will, however, remain closed on Thursday and Friday due to Mahaveer Jayanthi and Good Friday.

March 31 is the fifth Saturday of the month and hence will be a working day, unlike every second and fourth Saturdays. Some banks are also planning to work full time on Saturday, while in some only corporate offices might stay open. ATMs are most likely to function smoothly, as maintenance of ATMs are outsourced to third parties. 

However, April 2, Monday, would be a non-working day as banks will be shut for annual closing of accounts.

Reports and rumours on social media, also fuelled by WhatsApp forwards said that there would be a 5-day long holiday for banks that would impact day-to-day bank dealings. It also said that there would be a rush at ATMs before the extended weekend as well as currency crunch during those days as ATMs would not get refilled. The reports said that no other bank service would work either.

Earlier reports had further stated that some primary and government banking branches might remain open on March 31 but will not conduct any public dealings. It must be noted that it would indeed be advisable for customers who are planning other bank services to plan ahead of the holidays.

Reports also quoted a bank official who advised people to plan their transactions in advance for the upcoming weekend.