The proposed three-day nationwide bank strike, scheduled for September 28-30, has been deferred, the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) confirmed in a statement.
Following a meeting between the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and UFBU on September 27 at 9:30 PM, it was decided that a high-level committee of IBA and UFBU will be formed immediately to deliberate on the issue of declaring the remaining Saturdays as holidays, ANI quoted UFBU as stating. The strike had been called by UFBU over a range of demands, including changes related to pensions and the implementation of a five-day banking week. Its timing — coming right after the weekend and coinciding with September 30, the half-yearly closing of banks — had raised concerns of a prolonged disruption to branch-based banking services. Ahead of the now-deferred strike, authorities and lenders had already announced measures to ensure essential banking and payment services remained accessible. The government had brought forward the payment of September salaries, wages and pensions for central government employees and pensioners in view of the proposed strike. An office memorandum issued by the Controller General of Accounts said September payments could be released on Friday, September 25, instead of the normal schedule, with any necessary adjustment to be made from October 2026 salary or wages. The arrangement covered central government employees and pensioners, including personnel associated with Defence, Posts and Telecommunications. Several public-sector banks, including State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank, had also announced that customers would not be charged additional ATM fees for transactions during the proposed strike period. Under existing RBI rules, savings account holders generally receive five free ATM transactions each month at their own bank's ATMs. For transactions at other banks' machines, the complimentary limit is three transactions in six metropolitan centres and five transactions in non-metropolitan locations.
