Nearly a million employees of India's public sector banks were set to strike from Wednesday to protest against moves to merge state-run institutions and demand better wages, a union leader said. The planned two-day walkout by more than 900,000 workers was expected to disrupt clearing, cash handling and money market operations.
State-run banks are the biggest players in bond and currency markets. "Talks with the chief labour commissioner have failed and we are proceeding with the strike," United Forum of Bank Unions convener C.H. Venkatachalam said. The forum is an umbrella group representing nine unions.
In August, the State Bank of India, the country's largest bank, said it hoped to merge all its seven associate banks with itself. Union officials say there are plans to merge other state-run banks too. There are 27 public sector banks in India's overwhelmingly state-dominated financial services sector that have thousands of branches across the country.