Chennai floods: Finmin asks banks to restore services at the earliest

New Delhi: Finance Ministry has directed banks to restore services in flood affected areas as early as possible and asked them to ensure that no banking operation is affected on account of lost or damaged pass books.

All the banks have been asked to restore banking services in flood hit areas as early as possible and provide ATM and other services to the people round the clock, the ministry said in an official statement.

They have been requested to provide mobile ATMs/POS Machine services mounted on boats or other means and ensure replenishment of cash in all the ATMs.

"The banks have been asked to ensure that no banking operation is affected on account of lost/damaged pass book. The banks are also been advised to issue duplicate passbooks where required at the earliest," it said.

In Chennai city, 1,317 branches (88 per cent) out of 1,509 bank branches are functional and 2,818 ATMs (68 per cent) out of 4,172 ATMs are functional.

It further said that 192 bank branches and 1,354 ATMs are not functional due to damages or connectivity issues, it said.

As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, it said, 804 bank branches and 1,874 ATMs are not functional due to unprecedented rain and consequential glitches.