India's Central Bank extends curtailed timing for trading to April 30 due to COVID-19

India's Central Bank has extended its curtailed timing for trading of call money, foreign exchange, bonds to April 30 following the extension of the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19, said the the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its statement on Thursday.

Earlier this month, RBI, the country's Central Bank, had curtailed its trading hours for 10 days from April 7-17 for four hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to minimise risks arising from the unprecedented situation triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In view of the government of India's order that the lockdown will continue to be in force till May 3, it has been decided that the amended trading hours for various RBI regulated markets will continue to be effective till the close of business on Thursday April 30, 2020, the statement said.

While the curtailed trading hours will end on April 30, the next three days, May 1-3 are bank holidays and hence the full fledged services will only begin on May 4 after the nationwide lockdown ends on May 3.

As per the Thursday official update, India has 10,824 active cases of the COVID-19 with 420 deaths reported so far, of which 2,043 cases are from the country's financial capital Mumbai including 116 deaths so far.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)