SBI, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank revise banking hours and services to fight Coronavirus outbreak

• Many private sector banks in India revised their business hours to between 10:00am to 2:00pm till March 31 to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.
  
• Public sector banks will still be open as usual but certain non-essential services, like passbook updates, may no longer be available till March 31.
  
• Banks across the board are cutting down on their staff and allowing employees to take leave without wage-cuts if they exhibit symptoms.
  

This week some of the biggest banks India have decided to trim down on non-essential services — like passbook updates and over-the-counter cheque collection — to encourage their customers to stay at home until March 31. This includes the country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI).

A few private players like HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank also decided to cut down the number of hours that their doors will be open to just four hours a during the day.

According to the Indian Banks Association (IBA) public sector banks will continue to provide the following four essential services:

• Cash deposits and withdrawals
  
• Clearing of cheques
  
• Remittances
  
• Government transactions
  

Last week, on March 20, multiple banks already instructed their offices and branches to reduce their operating staff to at least 50%. Many are also encouraging their staff to take leave if should they exhibit any symptoms without any cut in salary.

While banks can’t shut down amid the Coronavirus pandemic since banking is an essential service, these new steps have been taken to help with social distancing in order to limit the spread of the infection.

Here’s a full list of how long each bank in India will be open and what services will be available until March 31: