Banks to open Sunday ahead of three-day nationwide strike

All public sector banks and regional rural banks will remain open this Sunday, September 27, the finance ministry announced, ahead of a three-day nationwide strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions from September 28 to 30. The Reserve Bank of India has approved the Sunday opening of branches, offices, ATM-linked branches and currency chests, PTI reports via news.abplive.com. The extra working day follows weekend holidays on September 26 and 27, which would otherwise have led to five consecutive days of disrupted physical banking services.

The UFBU, which claims to represent 90% of the banking workforce, is striking primarily for a five-day banking week, along with pension revisions and an option for NPS-covered employees to switch to the old pension scheme, The Hindu reports. The strike coincides with banks' half-yearly closing on September 30, a key date for reconciliation, provisioning and treasury operations, Deccan Herald reports. Several banks including PNB, SBI and Bank of India have sent SMS alerts advising customers to complete branch-dependent work by September 25 and use digital channels such as ATMs, UPI and mobile banking during the strike, Times Now reports. The government and bank managements have appealed to unions to defer the strike.