The continuous two-day cross-country bank strike against the privatization of government banks has impacted the clearing of cheques worth Rs 37,000 crore, said C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA).
38 Lakh Cheques On Hold
“There are three centres of clearing cheques in India – – Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. In two days – Thursday and Friday – around 38 lakh checks worth with regards to Rs 37,000 crore were held up,” Venkatachalam said.
Offering a framework shrewd reprieve up, Venkatachalam said in around 10 lakh really looks at worth with regards to Rs 10,600 crore in Chennai, around 18 lakh checks worth with regards to Rs 15,400 crore in Mumbai and somewhere in the range of 11 lakh checks worth Rs 11,000 crore in Delhi were not cleared.
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He said, notwithstanding open area bank staff, representatives and officials of old age private banks like Federal Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, CSB Bank, South Indian Bank, Dhanlaxmi Bank, Ratnakar Bank, J&K Bank and furthermore Kotak Mahindra Bank were additionally protesting.
Representatives of unfamiliar banks like Citi Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sonali Bank, Bank of America and others however tiny in number are additionally protesting. A segment of representatives and officials of Regional Rural Banks are additionally protesting, he added.
Around one lakh bank offices stay shut and some others headed by senior authorities were kept open as they didn’t take part in the strike. Nonetheless, there were no exchanges in those branches as other staff were protesting.
ICICI, HDFC Bank Cheques Are Getting Cleared
Venkatachalam said cheques drawn between private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank are getting cleared as they are not protesting.
The strike was called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella body of a few bank associations. Venkatachalam said the strike is against the Center’s transition to privatize public area banks (PSB) and to present the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the current meeting of Parliament.
The entry of the Bill will empower the public authority to diminish their value capital in the PSBs to under 51% and permit private hands to assume control over them. The Center had before said it would privatize two of its banks.
