Bank strike today: Services to be hit across India as 1 mn bankers protest

Banking operations across the country will be affected on Tuesday with around one million bankers going on strike pressing various demands.

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

The strike call was given by the UFBU — 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). The UFBU is protesting against reforms in the banking sector and other issues.

According to union leaders, around one million bankers working in around 132,000 branches will be on strike on Tuesday.

Most banks have already informed their customers that functioning of branches and offices will be impacted.

Operations at private lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are expected to be normal except delays in cheque clearances.

Why are they going on strike

All unions under the aegis of UFBU are going on strike against the government's proposed consolidation move besides raising a host of other demands.

"As the conciliation meeting before the Chief Labour Commissioner failed, unions are left with no other option but to go on strike. There was no assurance from the government and the management of banks," AIBOC General Secretary D T Franco said.

All attempts to hammer out solutions to the demands raised by the unions bore no fruit and hence, UFBU decided to proceed with the proposed strike on August 22, he said.

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.

He also suggested that banks should not pass on the burden of corporate NPAs on bank customers by hiking charges.

Venkatchalam said the government should abolish the Banks Board Bureau and ensure stringent measures to recover bad loans and accountability of top executives.

UFBU also requested the government for cost reimbursement of demonetisation to banks.

As many as 21 public sector banks control 75 per cent of the total business.