Banks, LIC, Tax Dept, Post Offices, PSU Open On Saturday, Sunday; Why Is There No Bank Holiday On March 31?

Public sector banks, insurers like LIC India, and other government offices including those of PSU and CPSE companies are open on Saturday and Sunday. The reason why government employees are working extra this week is due to the close of financial accounts for the fiscal year 2023-24 which will end on March 31, 2024.

Notably, this week's public holiday was granted on March 25 and 29 due to the Holi festival and Good Friday. But banks and other government offices are required to work on March 30th and 31st to take into account the FY24 book.

In its notification earlier, RBI said, "All Government transactions done by agency banks for the Financial Year 2023-24 must be accounted for within the same financial year. Accordingly, the following arrangements are put in place to report and account for Government transactions for March 31, 2024."

Further, RBI directed that all Agency banks should keep their designated branches open for over-the-counter transactions related to government transactions up to the normal working hours on March 30 and March 31, 2024.

Also, RBI said that special clearing will be conducted for Government cheques both on March 30 & 31, 2024. Agency Banks are hereby advised that all cheques related to Government accounts may be presented on such clearing. The timing for the presentation and return clearing of instruments for these special clearing sessions for government cheques will be intimated in due course.

RBI's circular said that it is mandatory for all banks to participate in the special clearing operations on March 30 & 31, 2024. All the member banks of CTS are also required to keep their inward clearing processing infrastructure open during the Special Clearing hours and maintain sufficient balance in their clearing settlement account to meet settlement obligations arising out of the Special Clearing.

Regarding reporting of Central and State Government transactions to RBI, including uploading of GST/ TIN 2.0/ ICEGATE/ e-receipts luggage files, the central bank stated that the reporting window of March 31, 2024, will be kept open till 1200 hours noon on April 1, 2024.

Normal clearing timings under the Cheque Truncation System (CTS) as applicable to any working "Saturday" shall be followed on March 30, 2024. Further, to facilitate the accounting of all the Government transactions for the current financial year (2023-24) by March 31, 2024, it has been decided to conduct Special Clearing under CTS exclusively.

What will be opened for customers? Can you visit bank branches on Sunday to carry out normal banking transactions?

As per the RBI circular, transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System will continue up to 2400 hours as hitherto on March 31, 2024. Hence, a normal bank branch visit is unlikely.