Bank strike: Operations to be affected today as 1 million bankers protest

New Delhi: Normal banking operations have been hit as public sector bank employees went on a one-day nationwide strike today to protest against the government's proposed consolidation move, besides raising other demands.

Services like deposits and withdrawal at bank branches, cheque clearance, NEFT and RTGS transactions are affected.

However, operations at private lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were almost normal.

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) had already informed customers that functioning of branches and offices may take a hit if the strike takes off. It had also asked banks to take measures in advance to minimise the impact.

Around one million bankers went on strike pressing various demands.

Banking services in the national capital region (NCR) were affected on Tuesday as lakhs of bank staff began their one-day pan-India strike against reforms in the banking sector, an official said.

The UFBU is protesting against reforms in the banking sector and other issues.

"The strike is a huge success. Bank officials held demonstrations outside branches last evening (Monday) to protest the government`s move to merge and privatise banks," All India Bank Employees` Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam told IANS.

The strike comes after the talks here between UFBU on one side and Indian Banks` Association, Chief Labour Commissioner and Department of Financial Services (DFS) failed on Friday.

"All India State Bank Officers` Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation being part of the UFBU will participate in the strike. It is likely that our bank will also be impacted by the strike," State Bank of India (SBI) said in a regulatory filing in the BSE.

The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) is an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

Other demands include no write-off policy for non- performing assets (NPAs) of corporate loans, declaring wilful default of loans as criminal offence and implementation of recommendations of Parliamentary Committee on recovery of NPAs, AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatchalam said.

With PTI Inputs