The All-India Bank Employees Association on Friday said the proposed two-day national strike on July 25-26 has been deferred after a meeting with Indian Banks Association (IBA) and the labour commissioner in Mumbai.
Unions claimed that about 10 lakh staff and officers of public sector banks and some private sector banks are participating in the strike.
Over 8.5 lakh employees, majorly from public sector banks (PSBs), will get a 15 per cent hike in pay, with the conclusion of the 11th Bipartite Wage Negotiations on Wednesday. After three years of intense negotiations, the UFBU, which represents four bank officer associations and five workman unions, and the IBA on July 22 entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for an annual wage hike of 15 per cent.
Unlike any other national asset, which is typically sold to the highest bidder, the profile of the bidder is the most important criterion for a licence to bank, and even for acquiring more than 5 per cent stake, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Public sector banks, including the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), have come out with a templated approach for restructuring retail and small business loans of up to Rs 25 crore under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Covid restructuring package 2.0. They have also come out with standardised products to make funds available to business entities for improving healthcare infrastructure and to individuals for meeting Covid treatment expenses. Business loans have been divided into three categories.
In order to provide an impetus to digital funds movement, it has been decided to do away with the charges levied by the RBI for transactions processed in the RTGS and NEFT systems, RBI said.
Finance secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks including preserving the identity of all the banks.
According to Association officials, Indian Banks' Association offered only a 11.5 per cent increase in hike compared to 17.5 per cent offered in 2011-12.
AIBEA is part of United Forum of Bank Unions, the umbrella organisation of employee and officer unions of nine banks, which has given the call for one-day strike on January 7 and four days from January 21 in support of their wage hike demand pending since November 2012.
I kept insisting that Rs 100 notes were in short supply and there was an urgent need to augment the supply of 100 rupee notes while also rapidly bringing into circulation the proposed new Rs 500 notes. But this was easier said than done because all the note printing machines of the RBI were programmed for printing Rs 2,000 notes and required at least three weeks before the machines could print the new Rs 500 currency notes. The availability of currency paper posed another major bottleneck, and it had to be imported. It was decided to immediately start printing the Rs 500 notes. It was only when the supply of the new Rs 500 notes started improving and the process of change of cassettes at the ATMs gathered momentum that the situation began limping back to normal. A fascinating excerpt from former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar's The Custodian of Trust: A Banker's Memoir, five years after demonetisation, November 8.
However, the likely impact of strike may not be much excluding few areas, said SBI.
As many as 8.5 lakh bank employees are set to benefit from the wage hike, which will be effective from November 2017.
One representative of the government as well as that of the Indian Banks' Association have been included in the expert committee which will advise the government on the new company law.
The finance minister said easy access and efficiency in providing banking services will help in revival of businesses which are restarting operations after the lockdown.
Among other demands, the unions are also seeking immediate introduction of five-day week in full and reduction of cash transaction hours and regulated working hours.
Sitharaman also directed public sector bank heads to clear long pending vigilance cases against their officials for alleged malpractices.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday expressed hope that some new bank licences would be issued before March next year.
While seeking responses of various governments, a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Deepak Misra said it is 'very serious issue.'
Unions said the revised wage structure should reflect the merger of dearness allowance.
A bunch of CEOs in their mid-30s and early 40s are trying to rectify the scenario where shady lending applications trap hapless borrowers with astronomically high interest rates and even bodily harm if the money was repaid. Anup Roy reports.
The Supreme Court asked the Centre and the RBI on Monday to place on record the K V Kamath committee recommendations on debt restructuring in view of Covid-19 related stress on various sectors as well as the notifications and circulars issued so far on loan moratorium.
The unions also suggested banks can extend special and exclusive loans to the airline to pay the salary dues or some subsistence payments to them against proper collateral.
Private sector lenders have been communicating to their customers about their strong capital positions but it has not put depositors at ease.
As ATMs hold huge amounts in cash and criminals use them to get to customers' cards and PIN data, electronic security is crucial
A section of the public sector banking employees will go on two-day all-India strike from Wednesday to protest against financial sector reforms and outsourcing of jobs.
A letter containing the demands had been given to the authorities including Indian Banks Association on March 26, but no decision was taken, United Forum of Bank Unions convenor A C Joseph told media on Tuesday.
A common feature in India is the lag between the occurrence of frauds and the time they are actually reported.
Banks may also rate students every year and fix interest rates according to the ratings.
The staff of public sector banks had gone on a nationwide strike for two days beginning February 10 after discussions with the IBA failed.
Strike is total, impacts all branches of PSU and private banks. Clearing operation at RBI also hit.
Owing to the risk perception attached with the segment by banks, the residential realty segment has been increasingly relying on non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies to raise debt financing, reports Abhijit Lele.
Borrowers wanting to prepay home loans can look forward to some relief as RBI on Tuesday indicated that it would scrap prepayment penalties charged by banks.
The unions have also threatened to explore an indefinite strike option, if their demands were not addressed.
The move will help curb card frauds. Currently, customers use only personal identification number for automated teller machine transactions.
During the negotiations held on May 5, IBA made two unacceptable propositions including an offer of 2 per cent hike in the wage bill cost as on March 31, 2017
Draft norms soon, but central bank worried about self-dealing by company promoters.
Stressed MSME borrowers would be eligible for restructuring of debt, if their accounts were classified standard.
The Indian banking sector is poised to become the world's third largest in asset size over the next 14 years.
Bankers' committee suggests banks lend to meritorious students without collateral.
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