Sitharaman asks banks to ensure liquidity flow, smooth ops

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked public and private sector banks to ensure uninterrupted banking operations and flow of liquidity.

In a series of tweets, the office of Sitharaman said that she spoke to chiefs of public sector banks and representatives of private banks on Saturday.

"The FM acknowledged the role of public sector banks and encouraged them to keep up their efforts in providing uninterrupted banking services across the country. #IndiaFightsCorona," said a tweet.

She also asked the PSB chiefs to make sure there was adequate liquidity at the branches, ATMs and banking correspondent level.

The CMDs were also asked provide authorisation to bank staff and coordinate with district administration for smooth passage of bank staff.

In another tweet, the Finance Minister's office said that Sitharaman held calls with the representatives of private sector banks and requested them to ensure uninterrupted banking services along with maintenance of social distancing.

During their interaction with the Finance Minister, the banks raised their specific problems and she said that solutions to these issues are being found through coordination with state governments and all the problems are being addressed.

Later Sitharaman also tweeted that she spoke to the Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh regarding the difficulties faced by banks in the state.

"Spoke to Hon. CM of Punjab @capt_amarinder on the difficulties banks face in keeping up their services in the state. Hon. CM explained the particular difficulties #Punjab is facing containing #CoronavirusPandemic. He assured that he shall facilitate the banks @PIB_India," she tweeted.

In line with the efforts to ease the customer experience in terms of banking and insurance related queries, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has created a twitter handle "@DFSFightsCorona", where people can post their queries and complaints. IANS