Long queues outside: Banks to remain open till 9 pm for 3 days, no ATM charges till 31 Dec

Fearing a jump in footfalls to deposit or withdraw cash following the demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1,000 banknotes, banks will remain open this Saturday and Sunday and its staff will do overtime till 2100 hrs for the next three days to clear the rush. 

Banks also announced a slew of measures, including extension of banking hours, doing away with ATM charges and expanding credit limits to handle the expected huge rush to tender now defunct Rs 500 and 1000 notes. 

Bankers have also been advised not to take additional leaves for the next one month, during which the government has asked holders of over 22 billion currency notes that are no longer legal tender, to deposit them in bank accounts. 

ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said the bank's branches will be open till 2000 hrs on Thursday and Friday. The bank also introduced a slew of relaxations on the electronic payments or withdrawals front. 

All charges pertaining to cash deposit into one's accounts will be waived till November 30 and the fees for transacting at ATMs will also be scrapped till December 31, ICICI Bank said in a statement. 

People holding to the older notes will be very keen to do away with them and also get the newer series banknotes of higher denomination when the bank branches reopen tomorrow. ICICI Bank said it is ensuring that Rs 2000 and the existing notes of Rs 100 notes are available at its 'main branches' from tomorrow. 

 

It also announced an expansion of up to 20 per cent in the credit limits for 'worthy' customers using its credit cards. 

Anand said there is no need for the customers to panic and appealed them to defer their visits to branches, pointing out that there is a 50-day limit to change the older notes. 

In the biggest-ever move to curb black money, and crime funding Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last night announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes would become illegal tenders from last midnight and massively curbed cash withdrawals through ATMs and from bank counters. 

"In order to meet the anticipated heavy demand from members of the public to conduct their banking transactions, it has been decided that banks shall remain open for public transactions on Saturday, November.

Banks are advised to keep all their branches open on November 12 and 13, 2016, as regular working days for transacting all business, it said. 

RBI also asked banks to give due publicity to the availability of banking services on these days. 

As per the normal schedule, the coming Saturday being the second would have been an holiday, but keeping in view the expected rush at the branches, it was decided otherwise. 

It is, however, not clear whether post offices would be open or not on the weekend. There are about 1.25 lakh post offices across the country. 

At the same time, the government and RBI are yet to take a call on keeping banks open on Monday, November 14, which is a holiday.