The ministry has additionally instructed these organisations to steadily discontinue petrol- and diesel-based hired vehicles and transition toward electric vehicles over time as part of wider expenditure-control and sustainability initiatives.
The Finance Ministry has instructed government-run banks, insurers and financial entities to enforce austerity steps with immediate effect, including restrictions on foreign travel and a phased move to electric vehicles, according to a Department of Financial Services (DFS) circular reviewed by NDTV Profit.
The instructions cover public sector banks, regional rural banks, PSU insurance firms and other financial bodies functioning under the administrative oversight of the Department of Financial Services.
Large state-owned institutions such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Life Insurance Corporation of India are included among the entities covered under the spending-rationalisation directives.
As part of the austerity initiative, the DFS has asked chiefs of PSU banks and insurance firms to keep foreign travel within specified limits and expand the use of video conferencing instead of overseas trips wherever feasible.
The DFS has further instructed these institutions to gradually eliminate petrol- and diesel-operated hired vehicles and move toward electric vehicles over time as part of broader expenditure-management and sustainability initiatives.
This follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging businesses and citizens to lower fuel consumption and preserve foreign exchange during a public address earlier in the week.
He called for work-from-home arrangements and virtual meetings to help cut fuel usage. He also urged citizens to postpone non-essential foreign travel and destination weddings.
Modi additionally appealed to people to delay physical gold purchases for at least one year in order to help reduce the import burden.
Following PM Modi's appeal to conserve fuel, several states including Delhi started rolling out measures to introduce partial work-from-home for government employees. Delhi CM Rekha Gupta on Thursday announced ‘work from home' for government employees twice a week, staggered office schedules and encouraged greater use of public transport under the 90-day ‘Mera Bharat, Mera Yogdan' initiative.
Likewise, Anupam Mittal, founder and CEO of People Group and Shaadi.com, was among the earliest private-sector leaders to introduce a one-day WFH-per-week policy for his 500-plus employees. RPG Group has also reportedly introduced a comparable measure.