If you are planning to go to the bank branch tomorrow on Friday for financial transactions, check clearance, making drafts or important work related to bank locker, then definitely check the official holiday list of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) before leaving home. Many times it happens in the banking system that a public holiday is declared in a particular state or city due to a local festival, historical day or religious tradition, while normal functioning continues in other parts of the country. According to the official notification of the Central Bank, tomorrow Friday, the branches of all public and private sector banks in a specific state of the country are going to remain closed. In such a situation, if you live in that concerned area, you will have to wait for the next working day to go to the branch and complete the work.
According to the calendar released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), tomorrow Friday has been declared an official holiday for banks in the state of Meghalaya. There is an order to keep banks closed on the occasion of 'Unitarian Anniversary Day' in various districts of the state including Meghalaya capital Shillong like East Khasi Hills, East Jaintia Hills, South West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi. On this occasion, locks will remain in the branches of all nationalized and private banks including State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BOB), HDFC Bank (HDFC), ICICI Bank (ICICI) and Canara Bank.
Unitarian Anniversary Day is considered a day of historical and cultural significance for the Khasi and Jaintia community in Meghalaya, North-East India. In the year 1887, Hajom Kishore Singh started the Unitarian movement in the Khasi Hills and the first prayer meeting was organized on this day. In respect of local faith and tradition, the state government and the Reserve Bank have declared this day a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
Citizens of other states of the country will be relieved to know that tomorrow's Friday holiday is limited to the state of Meghalaya only. Banks will remain open at full capacity as usual in all the remaining states and union territories of the country including the national capital Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Kanpur, Noida), Bihar (Patna), Rajasthan (Jaipur), Maharashtra (Mumbai, Pune), Gujarat (Ahmedabad), West Bengal (Kolkata), Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka (Bengaluru) and Tamil Nadu. Customers of these states can easily go to their nearest branch and get the work related to cash deposit, withdrawal, account opening or other documents done without any hassle.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) releases a detailed schedule of holidays for banks across the country at the beginning of every calendar year. The central bank divides these holidays into three main categories: The first category comes under the 'Holidays under Negotiable Instruments Act', under which banks are closed in the respective regions on specific festivals or anniversaries of the states. The second category is related to 'Real-Time Gross Settlement' (RTGS) holiday and the third category is related to annual account closing of banks. Apart from this, all the banks of the country remain compulsorily closed on Sunday and second and fourth Saturday of every month.
In the coming days of September also, banking services will be affected on different dates in many states due to regional festivals and birth anniversaries of great men. The list of upcoming holidays is as follows:
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20 September: Due to regular weekly holidays, all banks will remain closed across the country.
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21 September: Bank branches in cities like Bhubaneswar and Thiruvananthapuram will remain closed on the occasion of Srimanta Sankardev birth anniversary and Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi Day.
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22 September: There will be a public holiday for banks in Jharkhand (Ranchi) region on the auspicious occasion of Karma Puja.
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23 September: Banks will remain closed in Jammu and Srinagar divisions on the occasion of the birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh Ji.
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25 September: Banking operations will remain halted in Gangtok (Sikkim) due to the traditional Indrajatra festival.
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26 September: Due to it being the fourth Saturday of the month, all government and private banks of the country will remain closed.
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27 September: Regular weekly Sunday holiday.
Even in areas where bank branches will remain closed tomorrow, there is no need for customers to panic in daily financial transactions. The digital banking infrastructure functions uninterrupted 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, under the guidelines of the Central Bank. Customers can make instant fund transfers, bill payments and mobile recharge through internet banking, mobile banking apps and UPI like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm from the comfort of their homes. Along with this, ATMs and Cash Deposit Machines (CDM) of all banks will remain fully operational for cash withdrawal. Only those tasks will be affected which require personal presence at the bank counter, such as check clearance, passbook printing or getting document verification done by the branch manager.