People may face inconvenience in bank-related works with banks being closed on October 2 and 3 on account of Gandhi Jayanti and Dussehra, respectively.
The industry is also worried as two consecutive banks holidays will certainly hamper normal conduct of business operations.
Most of the transactions these days take place through cheques. Only salaries to the workers in different industrial units are given in cash, while other transactions are done through cheques or drafts.
Government transactions are specifically done through draft that would not be made in view of the bank holidays.
Sudershan Jain, president of Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers’ Association of Ludhiana (KAMAL), said entire trade would come to a standstill.“The two days will witness paralysed business activity as no transaction will take place,” he said.
Jain said business and trade would suffer a lot as entire business was done through cheques and draft. There are also apprehensions that even ATMs in the city could go out of cash during these two days.
Residents who have planned shopping during the festive season could have to wait for opening of the banks till ATMs are refilled with cash.
{{/usCountry}}Residents who have planned shopping during the festive season could have to wait for opening of the banks till ATMs are refilled with cash.
{{/usCountry}}There are at least 52 lakh saving accounts in different banks of the district, while the number of current accounts is 4.16 lakh.
Manjit Singh Jaggi, district manager, Lead Bank, said no clearance would take place during these two holidays.
“However, most of the banks have outsourced agencies who refill the ATMs,” he said and added that some ATMs could run out of cash. He said bank employees were working under huge pressure as they had few holidays.
However, Arun Sharma, a businessman, said holidays would impact business operations as government payments were done only through drafts and not through cheques or cash.