11 bank holidays: Keep adequate cash in hand

LUCKNOW : It may be a wise move to keep adequate amount of cash handy to meet household expenses this month, as banks will be shut for 11 out of 31 days. While six of these are usual offs -- Sundays and second and fourth Saturdays -- the remaining are public holidays on the occasions of Gandhi Jayanti, Navami, Dussehra, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj.

Media in-charge of the United Forum of Banks Union, Anil Tewari, said, “Banks were closed on Wednesday for Gandhi Jayanti. They will also remain shut on October 6 (Sunday), October 7 (Navami) and October 8 (Dussehra). So, people are advised to keep sufficient amount of cash at their disposal and perform all bank related work in time.”

“Apart from these, October 12 and 13 (second Saturday and Sunday), October 20 (Sunday), and October 26 and 27 (fourth Saturday and Diwali /Sunday) are also bank holidays. These are immediately followed by Govardhan Puja (on October 28) and Bhai Dooj (on October 29),” he said.

Tewari said that arranging cash was also advisable, as people usually shopped more this month on account of continuous festivities.

“During this time, important Hindu festivals like Dussehra and Diwali will be celebrated. It is during these festivals that people purchase the most and traders deposit the maximum cash into their bank accounts. This month is also very important for banks, as they also get their maximum business with many customers taking loans,” he said.

Although ATMs would be replenished with cash regularly, Tewari said that cash crunch was a usual problem whenever weekends and public holidays got clubbed.