SBI stir hits business, customers

Over 200,000 employees of the country's largest bank, the State Bank of India, today began an indefinite strike, demanding revision in their pension package.

The strike has affected India's payment system, and the money and foreign exchange markets.

The absence of SBI today led to low volumes in the money and foreign exchange markets and a sharp drop in volumes at clearing houses.

The strike also affected the government's revenue collection and payment of salaries to employees of companies having salary accounts with the bank.

SBI accounts for over 20 per cent of the banking industry and has almost 100 million customers, who were put to inconvenience by the strike.

The Reserve Bank of India took charge of clearing house operations at centres where SBI manages them, an RBI spokesperson said. The central bank will manage SBI's clearing houses as long as the strike continues.

The volume at clearing houses was down due to a lack of SBI-related business. SBI's daily business volume at clearing houses was about Rs 10,000 crore in Mumbai alone, an SBI executive said.

SBI Chairman AK Purwar said the bank management had been in talks with the employees to end the strike. "It has affected banking operations and we are trying to find a solution," Purwar said.

The staff and officers of SBI are demanding that pension be increased to 50 per cent of the last basic salary from the current upper limit of Rs 4,250 per month.

The ceiling was set in 1992 and since then two wage revisions "" first in 1997 and the second in 2002 "" had been negotiated, Prafulla Patnaik, general secretary of the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, said.

The employees went ahead with the strike after reconciliation efforts by the central labour commissioner and the labour minister failed over the weekend. The next round of reconciliation talks in the presence of the labour commissioner will be held in New Delhi on April 5.