Banks to conduct special clearing ops on Mar 31 for govt accounts' closure

Banks will conduct special clearing operations for the annual closure of government accounts on March 31, which is the last day of the fiscal year, the RBI said on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank has issued directions to the banks for smooth clearing operation and asked them to participate in it.

All government transactions done by agency banks for financial year 2021-22 must be accounted for within the same financial year.

Accordingly, arrangements are put in place to report and account for government transactions for March 31, 2022, the Reserve Bank said in a notification.

"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 31, 2022.

"Special clearing will be conducted for collection of government cheques on March 31, 2022 for which the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems (DPSS), RBI, will issue necessary instructions," it said.

The apex bank said that transactions through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System will continue upto 2400 hours as hitherto on March 31.

"Regarding reporting of central and state government transactions to RBI, including uploading of GST/e-receipts luggage files, the reporting window of March 31, 2022 will be extended and kept open till 1200 hours on April 1, 2022," the RBI said.

The RBI asked the participating banks to take note of this and give adequate publicity to the special arrangements made regarding this.