Hyderabad: Staff in banks can get four straight holidays if they take a day’s leave on Friday. Banks will be closed on Thursday, October 22, for Vijayadasami, October 24 for the fourth Saturday and October 25 is a Sunday. A day’s leave on Friday, October 23, will make it a nice long weekend.
Some bankers say that whenever there are four consecutive holidays, the RBI intervenes and inserts a working day in between. Since the working day on Friday breaks the sequence, it remains to be seen if the RBI will step in. Even if it does, a day’s leave will result in staff getting four consecutive holidays.
To keep the operations going, bankers say that they have leveraged the Internet and mobile banking so that customers do not face any hardships. Only those customers who need to visit banks, for loan processing or other requriements, may face delays. In addition, banking operations could get impacted due to shortage of staff.
Responding to a query, Mr Rajiv Anand, Axis Bank group executive and head, retail banking, said, “Our mobile app and internet banking platforms have been augmented to allow customers to complete most of their transactions and service needs 24X7 without having to visit a branch. We also understand that during the festive season, customers would have the requirement of cash. Hence, adequate arrangements have been made to ensure that customers’ cash needs are met from our ATMs.” In addition to banks, IT companies and central government employees can also enjoy a four-day long weekend holiday this festive season, if they avail leave on Friday, October 23.
