Bank strike deferred: Will SBI, HDFC and cooperative banks across India stay open on Tuesday-Wednesday, 29-30 October?

Banks across India remained open today, on Monday, 28 September after the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) reached an understanding on Sunday night, September 27. The UFBU’s proposed 3-day strike — originally scheduled from 28-30 September, has thus now been deferred.

Notably, the protest was part of a push from employee unions demanding five-day work week, and due to concerns over Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, among other issues.

The strike being deferred was notified in a UFBU circular on Sunday, which said the union met and had discussions with the IBA. A high-level committee of both bodies has been formed to deliberate on the issue, explore all possible alternatives, discuss with all stakeholders, and work out a solution acceptable to all, including the customers, it added.

Will SBI, HDFC, cooperative banks stay open tomorrow?

Since the strike has been deferred, public sector banks such as the State Bank of India (SBI), Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank (PNB) and other PSBs will remain open this week on Tuesday and Wednesday, 29-30 September.

Further, private sector banks such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank among others will also remain operational throughout the week, with usual working hours for customers.

Further, NDTV Profit had last week reported that cooperative bank unions clarified that they would not be participating in the UFBU strike and would hence remain operational this week as well. The National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies (NAFCUB), National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB), and National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) said cooperative banks are not participating in the proposed strike and will operate as usual, it said.

Notably, with the proposed bank strike now deferred, customers are expected to be able to access regular branch services this week.

October 2: Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

Banks will remain closed this week on 2 October for Gandhi Jayanti, which is the birth anniversary of the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. On this day, India honours his significant contributions to our independence struggle.

However, you will continue to have access to digital banking services.