The consolidated revised guidelines of the Home Ministry on Wednesday detailed the segments of the financial sector that would remain functional during the current extended lockdown till May 3.

The RBI and RBI-regulated financial markets and entities — such as NPCI, CCIL, payment system operators and standalone primary dealers — will remain functional.

Also, bank branches and ATMs, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents ( BCs), ATM operations and cash management agencies will continue to function, the Home Ministry said.

It also said that bank branches should be allowed to work during normal working hours till disbursals under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes are complete. The local administration has been asked to provide adequate security personnel at bank branches and BCs to maintain social distancing, law and order and staggering of customer visits.

The revised guidelines also specified that SEBI and capital and debt market services as notified by SEBI will remain functional, as would be IRDAI and insurance companies.

It may be recalled that bank branches, capital markets and insurers remained functional during the first phase of the lockdown that ended on April 14.

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