Bank Strike Could Impact Transactions Worth Rs 15,000 Crore: 10 Developments

Banking operations across the country were hit today, with 8 to 10 lakh employees of 40 private and state-run banks striking work. Lenders, including State Bank of India, informed customers that banking services would be hit because of the strike today. However, private sector banks like ICICI Bank were working as usual.

Here are 10 developments about the bank strike

1. 1>Services like cheque clearances, cash deposit and withdrawal at branches and other facilities were hit because of the one-day bank strike. According to industry body ASSOCHAM, Friday's strike will impact customer transactions worth about Rs 12,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.
2. 2>No disruptions are likely at the nearly 2 lakh automatic teller machines or ATMs across the country, according to striking employees. The vital treasury operations including a Rs 15,000 crore government bond auction are unlikely to be affected, traders said.
3. 3>The one-day strike has been called by the United Forum of Banks Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank employees and officers' unions representing 8 lakh staffers.
4. 4>"The strike is on," said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association. "The strike will involve employees and officers of public sector banks, old generation private banks and foreign banks with a total of more than 80,000 branches," he added.
5. 5>Employee unions are opposed to the government's decision to privatise IDBI Bank. They are also unhappy with the decision to merge the five associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI) with SBI.
6. 6>The decision to merge State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad with SBI was taken by the government in June. The proposed merger could transform SBI into a global behemoth.
7. 7>Bank unions say that the government is consolidating (merger) public sector banks and at the same time giving licences to corporate houses to start banks.
8. 8>Bank unions say the inadequate infusion of capital in public sector banks will result in reduction of government's equity capital and create compulsion for higher extent of private capital leading to privatisation of banks.
9. 9>Bank unions have also accused the government and the Reserve Bank of India of not taking tough measures to recover bad loans. They want the names of defaulters to be published. Bank unions are also demanding that "willful and deliberate defaulters" should be declared as criminal offenders and punished.
10. 10>According to bank unions, the total bank loans willfully defaulted by borrowers stand at Rs 58,792 crore, while the total quantum of bad loans of the government owned banks stood at Rs 539,995 crore as on March 31, 2016.
11. source profit ndtv