In a bid to deal with the rush of people expected to queue up at branches to exchange now-invalid currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000, the RBI has announced that banks will remain open on coming Saturday and Sunday.
“Banks will remain open for public on Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, November 13, 2016,” the RBI said in a statement.
There are about 149 scheduled commercial banks, including 56 regional rural banks, with branch network of about 1.30 lakh across the country. Besides, the co-operative banks have also been asked to take deposit and exchange the old with the new one.
Anticipating panic and heavy rush at bank branches tomorrow, banks in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have sought deployment of police at branches in order to avoid any law and order problem.
Even as banks asserted that there was no need to panic. “We will be setting up two counters at each branch in our zone for exchange of cash,” said a senior officer of Central Bank of India.
With the setting up of additional counters, banks will also be sending extra staff to branch levels so that customers should not face any harassment.
