Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec.16: Employees of public sector banks (PSBs) went on strike for two days on Thursday to protest the government’s plan to privatise them, disrupting normal banking operations across the country.
The United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine bank unions including the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW), called a two-day walkout across the country.
As a result, services like branch deposits and withdrawals, check clearance, and loan approvals may be hampered as a result of the strike. ATMs, on the other hand, are likely to operate normally.
Customers of public sector lenders, such as State Bank of India, had been advised that the strike would impair services in their branches.
However, the private sector is operating normally, particularly new generation private sector lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. According to (AIBEA) general secretary C H Venkatachalam, the walkout is in protest of the government’s plan to privatise public sector banks which have played an important role in nation development.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) as part of the government’s disinvestment agenda in February’s Union Budget.
The government has scheduled the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, for introduction and passage during the current Parliamentary session in order to allow privatisation.
In the last four years, the government has privatised IDBI Bank by selling its majority ownership in the lender to LIC and combined 14 public sector banks.
