Kolkata: Going back to its previous schedule, banks will remain open on Saturdays apart from the second and fourth Saturdays of a month.
In the wake of Covid, the state government had allowed all banks to remain closed on all Saturdays that resulted in five working days in a week. The step was taken to stem the spike in Covid cases.
With Unlock 4 in place, the state Finance department on Friday issued a notification "…allowing all bank branches to work on Saturdays henceforth excepting the second and fourth Saturdays which had so long been observed as holidays of banks".
Banks remain closed on second and fourth Saturdays as per the RBI guidelines. However, there is no permission for activities of any bank if it is in a containment zone.
With the Friday's announcement of the state government, banks are scheduled to remain open on Saturday and there will be normal banking activities on every first and third Saturday of a month.
The State Level Bankers Committee had sought the state's reply on continuation of closure of banks on all Saturdays in September as well.
If the state government had not taken the decision of allowing banking operations on the first and third Saturdays, then it would have led to six days closure of banks in the first two weeks of this month with the statewide lockdown taking place on September 7, 11 and 12. As September 7 is a Monday, it would have led to a closure for three consecutive days in the first week and again with September 11 being a Friday, there would be another set of three-day closure.
The norms of physical distancing and use of masks while working and visiting a bank has to be maintained.