Banking services hit as employees of public sector banks go on strike

Normal banking operations have been hit as public sector bank employees went on a one-day nationwide strike on Tuesday 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.

The strike has been called by all unions under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU).

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

Besides, protest against consolidation move of the government, 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, NOBW vice president Ashwini Rana said.

The government should provide overtime for additional work during demonetisation, he said.

The UFBU, which claims membership of nearly 10 lakh across banks, requested the government for cost reimbursement of demonetisation to banks.

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