Pan-India strike hits bank services

NEW DELHI: Banking operations across the country were hit on Tuesday as over 10 lakh bank employees in more than 1,30,000 branches pan-India protested against the reforms in the banking sector among other issues.—

Banking operations across the country were hit on Tuesday as over 10 lakh bank employees in more than 1,30,000 branches pan-India struck work -protesting against reforms in the banking sector among other issues -thereby affecting chequeclearing activity. An official of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) -the umbrella body of nine unions which has given the strike call -- said "over 10 lakh bank employees spread in more than 1,30,000 branches across the country have struck work hitting cheque-clearing activity". Banking operations in Tamil Nadu were affected with around 55,000 bankers striking work pressing for their demands, said a report from Chennai citing a top All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) leader.

"The strike is a huge success. It is a dawn-to-dusk strike as cheque clearing operations start at 6 a.m. Bankers working in around 10,300 branches

struck work protesting the policies towards the sector," C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA told IANS. Venkatachalam said around 12 lakh financial instruments valued at around Rs 7,300 crore would not be cleared. With branches closed, automated teller machines (ATMs) might get empty sooner than normal. Government treasury transactions would also be impacted. Foreign exchange transactions, import and export bill transactions, sanction

of loans and others would also be affected. In most of the places, clearing operations, particularly outward clearing, was seriously affected.

Normally in the three clearing grids functioning from South, West and North -- Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi -- on an average about 40 lakh cheques and instruments worth about Rs 20,000 crore are transacted per day. This has been affected in a big way as a result of the employees' stir, Venkatachalam said.