India bank staff in strike action

Unions fear thousands of branch closures

Nearly a million bank workers in India have held one-day strike in protest at what unions say is government pressure to reform which will lead to job cuts.

The unions oppose outsourcing and a proposal to merge 27 state-run banks to compete in the global economy.

Unions said the strike had affected bank transactions across India, but many private sector banks operated normally, as did ATM services.

Unions say there is no need for the Indian banking industry to globalise.

Jobs 'vacant'

Unions said operations at 27 public sector banks - including the largest state-run bank, the State Bank of India - had been affected.

Union members and employees at 18 foreign sector banks had also joined in the strike, union officials said.

Services came to a virtual standstill in the state of Tamil Nadu and the strike was almost total in West Bengal, unions said.

Private sector banks, however, were less affected with many operating normally because fewer staff were union members, Reuters news agency reported.

And across the country ATM services continued to be provided, allowing people to withdraw cash.

"This time every bank is striking," CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of All India Bank Employees' Association told Reuters.

"Lots of jobs are lying vacant, they should be filled up and the banks' work should not be outsourced if you have clients' interest in mind."

The unions are also opposed to a government proposal to bring down its stake in state-run banks from the present 51% to 33%.

India's booming economy has helped raise demand for banking services.

India has about 88 state, private and foreign banks, and more than 100,000 urban and rural co-operative banks.

State banks handle the vast bulk of business transactions - cheques which were not deposited or cleared on Friday will be processed next week.