<h1>VCES payment acceptance: banks to extend hours and e payment deadline and accept ST 2 backed payments.</h1> Designated agency bank branches were instructed to extend banking hours and e payment timelines to facilitate VCES payments, and to accept payment of VCES dues against a copy of the ST 2 registration certificate even if the assessee code was not in the bank/NSDL database; banks should accept GAR 7 challans, acknowledge on the photocopy as proof, and digitize and transmit the challan to NSDL after updating the bank master on the next working day.