Five-day work week in banks soon as industry demand gets nod from IBA

The proposal has now been sent to the finance ministry for its final approval. If approved, all Saturdays will be declared as bank holidays

In a meeting held last month, the Indian Banking Association (IBA) gave its nod to the industry's demand for five days of banking, The Hindu BusinessLine (BL) reported on Monday, citing sources. The proposal has now been sent to the finance ministry for its final approval.

"The matter has now been escalated to the finance ministry for final sign off," multiple senior executives of banks aware of the development were quoted as saying by BL.

Under the industry's long-standing demand, if approved by the ministry, all Saturdays will be declared as a bank holiday. Currently, the banks are closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

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Until 2015, however, the banks were operational six days a week, including all Saturdays.
 

The banks will work from Monday to Friday, but their daily working hours will be extended by 45 minutes.

The BL report also cited a banker as saying that now 80 per cent of the transactions take place digitally, and bank branches are working more as customer redressal centres. "Except for taking some sign-offs on certain agreements which would require the signature of customers, there isn't much need to walk into branches these days," they said. 

It also added a source as saying that based on the informal talks, a nod from the finance ministry is expected soon as "the government may not have an issue in accepting this request from the bankers' union".

After the finance ministry's nod, the proposal will be taken to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for approval.