As part of the reform measures mooted by the government under Enhanced Access and Service Excellence Programme (EASE) 2.0, PSBs will adhere to standard hours of operation across the country. A panel including bankers has suggested that each of the regions should adopt one of the three six-hours slot that are from 9am to pm, 10 am to 4pm or 11 am to 5 am. Notably the banks have already given consent to remain operational for similar working hours in a particular location.

"The three-time slots (9 am to 3 pm, 10 am to 4 pm or 11 am to 5 pm) have been suggested, but banks can have other slots. The idea is that in one locality, one branch doesn't open at 8 am and another at 10 am as customers get confused. Residential areas can have branches opening at 8 am or even operate in the evening. But it needs to be uniform," Indian Banks' Association (IBA) CEO V G Kannan is cited in a news daily report as saying.

Most of the commercial banks however have a similar opening time of between 10:30 am to 11 am.

"Banks have to discuss at the state level bankers' committee and decide on timings for different locations. We are not going to dictate to them. Even in one place, the branch timings may be different for the market, residential and business," iterated Kannan.

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