No payment systems to work on 2nd, 4th Saturdays from Sept 1: RBI

Will work full day on other Saturdays; bank branches to be shut on 2nd, 4th Saturdays from next month

With effect from Thursday,  payment systems would not work on the second and fourth Saturdays of a month, but would operate the full day on working Saturdays, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

The payment systems that would not work include Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National Electronic Fund Transfer and Electronic Clearing Service (ECS).

This is because all scheduled and non-scheduled banks, public, private, foreign, cooperative, regional rural and local area banks, will have a holiday on the second and fourth Saturdays from September.

The other payment systems that would not work on these days include cheque clearing including the grid-based Cheque Truncation System, Regional Electronic Clearing Service and National Electronic Clearing Service.

RBI said the processing of future value dated transactions with a value date falling on the second and fourth Saturdays will not be undertaken under RTGS and ECS.

Following a pact between public sector bank employees and officers with the management, it was decided that all branches in the country would remain closed on all the second and fourth Saturdays from July. Subsequently, the government issued a notification enabling the same for all banks. RBI has clarified it will continue to operate fixed rate reverse repos as well as the marginal standing facility windows on all working Saturdays. It will also operate a fixed rate liquidity adjustment facility repo window on all working Saturdays.

The central bank also said that as a regulator of banks, financial markets and payment and settlement systems, it hadmade supporting changes in the working of some of its operational areas. The arrangements would be reviewed after six months.