Representational imageThiruvananthapuram: Banking operations were on Tuesday hit across the state as members affiliated to nine unions in the public sector banks struck work protesting against reforms in the banking sector.
However, new generation banks were reported to be functioning normally.
A senior banking official attached to a leading public sector bank said that he came to the branch as usual and opened but later it was closed.
"All officials who are in the category of Scale 4 and above, besides those in probation, cannot participate in strikes. But all such people signed for the day and then left," said an official who did not wish to be identified.
In Kerala, while there are more than 5,000 branches in the public sector, the total number of branches in the private sector is under 250.
There were sizable crowds in front of many ATMs and at some places, the cash was finished by noon. The worst affected were cheque clearing operations.
Bank operations hit across country
Banking operations across the country were hit 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 cheque-clearing activity. However, private lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank functioned normally.
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 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," AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam told IANS.
Venkatachalam said around 12 lakh financial instruments valued at around Rs 7,300 crore could not be cleared.
Government treasury transactions were impacted. Foreign exchange transactions, import and export bill transactions and sanction of loans, among others, were also affected.
In most of the places, clearing operations, particularly outward clearing, was seriously affected.
The strike hit around 42,000 branches of 22 public sector banks including the monolithic State Bank Of India and IDBI, 18 old generation banks, eight foreign banks and 56 Regional Rural Banks in Mumbai and Maharashtra, said AIBEA leader Vishwas Utagi.
UFBU convener Devidas Tuljapurkar said the strike was to oppose banks privatization, banks consolidation and for initiating tough measures against big corporate loan defaulters, besides opposing the increase in service charges and reduction in interest rates on saving accounts by banks, which is an attempt to shift the burden of big loan defaulters onto the common masses.
Discussing plans to intensify the agitation, Tuljapurkar said the bank staffers will now join a march to Parliament on September 15, followed by another two days' strike in late October-early November.
The strike comes after the talks between UFBU on one side and Indian Banks' Association, chief labour commissioner and Department of Financial Services (DFS) failed on Friday.
Among the 17-point charter of union demands, the main relates to the government's denial of adequate capital to public sector banks, thus creating conditions for privatization, an AIBEA statement said on Tuesday.
In Bengaluru, hundreds of employees of various banks took out a rally and staged demonstrations protesting against the government's proposal to merge their banks.
The striking employees were also demanding compensation to employees for extra work done on account of demonetization of high value currencies, and booking loan defaulters.
Read: Latest Kerala news | Come September and Kerala will witness its first gender-swap wedding
