Amidst the pandemic situation lately, it was expected that the cash withdrawal may rise to a peak in the first week of April as soon as Salary hits their respective bank accounts.
In order to ensure that there is no paucity of funds, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made sure that specific measures were taken to combat the expected situation.
The Call of the Ministry
The Minister tweeted on March 30, 2020, that all banks must ensure that their branches are kept open, their ATMs are filled and in working condition.
All the Banking correspondents are active and that Social distancing is respected & sanitizers are provided where necessary as it was expected that due to lock-down cash withdrawal may be expected to rise in the first week of April as soon as salary is remitted to their bank accounts. And it was also said by her that customers would not be penalised for not maintaining a minimum balance in their bank accounts for 3 months.
The Indian Banks Association (IBA) too were in concurrence to the statement given by Finance Minister.
IBA stated in a letter issued in the public interest that they consider customers as their first priority and that, they will be provided uninterrupted banking services and visit the branches shall only be made in case of absolute necessity. Also, the IVR or call facility to branches are still kept active in the situation lately.
And that as a measure to serve the customers better the banks shall undertake the following essential activities from 27th March 2020. The services available physically at the branches are listed as under’
- Cash Deposits and withdrawals
- Clearing of cheques
- Remittances
- Government transactions
While other services other than those listed above under the essential services are available digitally to the customers without any disruptions.