Madhya Pradesh Bank Strike Hits Business Worth ₹15 Lakh Crore As 40,000 Bankers Stay Off Work

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Business worth Rs 15 lakh crore was affected in Madhya Pradesh on Friday as nearly 40,000 bankers from over 7,000 branches in the state were on strike to press for their demand of five-day working. The business worth Rs 3 lakh crore was affected in Bhopal, where about 5,000 bankers of 500 branches were on strike.

The agitation was in response to a nationwide call given by the United Forum of Bank Unions demanding implementation of a five-day banking week and raising several other pending issues, including differences over the Performance Linked Incentive scheme and pension-related demands.

In Bhopal, bankers staged a protest at the Press Complex that affected branch-based services like cash deposits/withdrawals, cheque-related work, KYC/document submission and other counter services.

According to VK Sharma, convener, United Forum of Bank Unions (Madhya Pradesh), other demands include adequate recruitment of clerical and sub-staff in banks, OPS, granting income tax exemption on the additional 4% contribution made by banks towards NPS, raising the maximum ceiling for gratuity under the Gratuity Act, updating pensions, applying uniform DA to pensions, revising the ex gratia payment for pensioners who retired before November 2022, implementing ex gratia payments across all private sector banks, putting an end to the practice of deliberately keeping the posts of Workman Director and Officer Director vacant in banks, implementing Leave Bank system, having banks bear the premium for the medical insurance policies of retired employees.