Banking services take a hit
20.4 lakh cheques worth Rs18,600 cr could not be transacted on Thursday as 7 lakh PSU bank employees go on 2-day strike against privatization
New Delhi: Banking operations were impacted across India on Thursday as lakhs of public- sector bank (PSB) employees began their two-day strike to protest against bank privatisation. Shutters of many branches of PSBs like State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank and Bank of India were down on Thursday with a message informing customers about the strike.
Services are likely to be hit on Friday as well. The strike call has been given by United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), an umbrella body of nine bank unions including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW). Services such as deposits and withdrawals at branches, cheque clearance and loan approvals were affected. However, ATMs at many places were working fine. According to AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam, about 20.4 lakh cheques worth Rs 18,600 crore could not be transacted on Thursday. Public sector lenders, including SBI, had earlier informed customers that services in their branches might be affected due to the strike.
