STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: In sync with the current lockdown, banking services across Assam are at their bare minimum. The customers have also been requested to visit banks only for essential services and rely more on mobile and Internet banking.
According to sources, even as the SBI (State Bank of India) has been sticking to its usual working hours, most other banks have shrunk their working hours from 10 am to 2 pm. Services like saving account cash withdrawal and deposits are going on. Some banks have adopted measures like keeping only one branch open in one area and asking their staff to attend duty on alternate days.
Matters like keeping banks open on alternate days in the rural areas and inter-banking operations – making each of the banks to operate accounts of every other bank – are being contemplated. All such moves need permission from the Reserve Bank of India.
Meanwhile, the UBI has introduced a ‘COVID Emergency Line Credit System’. Through this system, the bank provides additional facilities to customers for handling liquidity issues amid the outbreak of corona.
With most of the ATMs functioning, the number of customers visiting the banks has already come down significantly.
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