Banking services across India were hit on Tuesday as employee unions staged a nationwide strike to press for the immediate implementation of a five-day work week. The United Forum of Bank Unions, an umbrella body representing nine major bank employee and officer unions, called off work after a conciliation meeting with the Chief Labour Commissioner failed to produce a breakthrough on their demand.
Public sector bank branches in many states remained closed or operated with skeletal staff as employees participated in the protest. Union leaders said the demand for declaring all Saturdays as holidays had been agreed in principle with the Indian Banks’ Association during a wage settlement in March 2024, but formal government notification is still awaited.
Customers faced disruption in routine branch activities such as cash deposits, withdrawals, cheque clearances and administrative work at lenders including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda. Several banks had already informed stock exchanges about the possible impact of the industrial action on Tuesday.
Digital banking services such as UPI, mobile banking and internet banking continued to function, though ATM cash availability was uneven in some areas because of limited staff presence. Major private banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were largely unaffected as their employees are not part of the striking unions.
Union representatives said the strike was not directed against customers, but aimed at improving work-life balance for bank staff and aligning banking work norms with other financial institutions that already follow a five-day schedule. They said longer weekday hours had been agreed as part of an earlier memorandum but the lack of official approval had forced them into industrial action.
With a long weekend of holidays including Sunday and Republic Day, the strike extended a period of limited physical banking services. Customers and businesses were urged to use digital channels for urgent transactions and check bank advisories for updates as services returned to normal.