INDIA'S BANKING SECTOR HIT BY NATIONAL TRADE UNION STRIKES

Banking and insurance services in India were hit hard in West Bengal and Kerala by the day-long strike called by trade unions against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's economic policies and price rise.

Services like cash payments, deposit in the branches, clearing, and foreign exchange transactions were affected, said All-India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) general secretary, C H Venkatachalam.

In the financial capital Mumbai, normal banking operations however, were partially impacted. Reports said treasury and foreign exchange market were not much affected.

Reports from Kolkata said not a single branch was seen operating.

In Kochi, most of the public sector banks could not conduct any business.

Operations were by and large normal across the Delhi region barring a few branches, a senior bank official said.

It was business as usual for the country's largest lender State Bank of India (BSE:500112) and its associate banks. Private and foreign banks also functioned normal.

Bank officers did not participate in the strike though their organisations extended "fraternal support" to their co-workers.

As many as eight central trade unions, including CPI (M)-affiliated CITU and INTUC of the Congress, gave the nation-wide strike call to protest issues like price rise, disinvestment policy of the UPA government and "violation" of labour laws.

All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) participated in the strike.

Nearly 500,000 employees in the public sector, private and regional rural banks supported the strike call given by various trade unions, Venkatachalam said.

There are about one million employees in the public sector banks, with 80,000 branches across India.

IDBI Bank's chairman and managing director, R M Malla, said that all branches of the bank were functioning and operations were not affected.

The AIBEA's secretary, Vishwas Utagi, however, claimed the strike was a "thundering success" across the country.

"It is a new chapter opened in the post-independent labour movement of our country wherein the entire working class--organised and unorganised--raised the voice of protest against the government's policy of liberalisation and privatisation," he said in a statement.