The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) on Friday appealed customers to strictly observe social distancing and avoid visiting branches unless very necessary.

Announcing a set of measures to be followed by customers, IBA said avoid touching counters, common places by maintaining proper distance from staff before and after physical transactions.

Avoid crowding and maintain 1 to the 1.5-metre distance between each other in the queue and only 5-6 customers to enter the branch at a time, it said.

IBA also requested anyone with cough and cold symptoms to avoid physical transactions and asked senior citizens and children to desist from going to branches.

It asked customers to use gloves or sanitizers or masks while entering the branches, and to carry all documents required for the transaction.

"Wash your hands with soap for at least 20 seconds before and after physical banking/currency counting/AEPS (Aadhaar-enabled payment system) transactions," IBA said in the public appeal.

Cash deposits and withdrawals, clearing of cheques, remittances and government transactions are the services which are available physically at branches, it said.

IBA also clarified that as per the notification by the Ministry of Home Affairs, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondent (BC) and ATM operation and cash management agencies are part of exempt services.

As advised by the Finance Minister, the customer accounts will be credited through direct benefit transfer, wherever applicable, IBA said, and asked customers to make use of BC network and ATMs for cash withdrawals.