The notification from the government says that important financial services like banking and insurance will continue to function during the lockdown period to help people meet their financial needs. the information comes on Wednesday.
This comes as fresh guidelines for the second phase of the lockdown, which will be in effect till May 3.
Bank branches are allowed to work as per normal working hours till disbursal of DBT cash transfers is complete, also, local administration is to provide adequate security personnel at bank branches and for banking correspondents to maintain social distancing and staggering of account holders.
For the Financial sector: the Following will remain open.
1) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and RBI regulated financial markets and entities like NPCI, CCIL, Payment system operators and standalone primary dealers.
2) Bank branches and ATMs, IT vendors for banking operations. Banking Correspondents (BCs), ATM operations and cash management agencies.
3) SEBI and capital and debt market services as notified by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
4) Irdai and insurance companies.
The revised guidelines will not apply in containment zones, as demarcated by states, UTs and district administration.”If any new area is included in the category of containment zone, the activities allowed in that area till the time of its categorization as a containment zone will be suspended except for those activities as are specifically permitted under the guidelines of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).”
“To mitigate hardship to the public, select additional activities have been allowed which will come into effect from 20th April. 2020. These limited exemptions will be operationalized by states/UTs / district administrations based on strict compliance to the existing guidelines,” the MHA directive noted.
As per the revised guidelines, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operations and cash management agencies will also be functional.
Here is the list of activities that are allowed from April 20.
“The important components of the financial sector, e.g., RBI, banks, ATMs, capital and debt markets as notified by SEBI and insurance companies will also remain functional, with a view to providing enough liquidity and credit support to the industrial sectors,” the consolidated revised guidelines issued by the Home Ministry said.
Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) to the poor and vulnerable section of society, hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the consequent lockdown, is providing financial support for sustaining during these difficult times.
It further said the digital economy is critical to the services sector and is important for national growth. Accordingly, e-commerce operations, operations of IT and IT-enabled services, data and call centers for government activities, and online teaching and distance learning will be functional.
As per the revised guidelines, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operations and cash management agencies will also be functional.
