By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 30, 2019: The working hours of all the public sector banks across Odisha will now be from 10 am to 4 pm from October 1 as per the decision arrived at the Bankers Panel on Monday.

“We have also requested the private banks to formulate their working hours accordingly,” the UCO Bank MD and CEO, Atul Kumar Goel said, after the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting.

The move is aimed at removing all the discrepancies in the operational timings of various public sector banks, he added.

“At present there is confusion among customers regarding the business hours of banks. In order to resolve this, the public sector banks will remain open from 10 am to 4 pm from tomorrow,” Mr Goel remarked after the end of the 156th SLBC meeting.

Debashis Panda, the Additional Secretary in the Union Finance Ministry asked the banks to give priority to credit disbursement in tourism, handicraft and handloom sectors which have been hit by the cyclone Fani and open more bank branches in the state.

Odisha Development Commissioner S C Mohapatra suggested to the banks to organise more loan melas in block level.

Mr Goel said the banks have provided Rs. 5,853 crore loans to 1,23,090 beneficiaries in the post-cyclone Fani period. Odisha’s Finance Secretary A K Meena said the financial inclusion in the state is not complete due to less number of bank branches and inaccessibility of certain areas.