Bank unions call off proposed 3-day strike

Customers of state-run banks can heave a sigh of relief with bank unions on Wednesday calling off their three-day proposed strike from March 28.

The proposed strike could have paralysed the entire banking services and put customers to severe inconvenience as it would have affected financial work for most of next week, since March 27 (Tuesday) is already a holiday on account of Ram Navami.

The three-day strike from Wednesday would have rendered the whole week futile for carrying out any emergency bank work. In fact, the income-tax department had already asked people to pay their taxes by March 23 to avoid inconvenience on account of disruption in services due to the proposed strike. Even the government would have faced problems as tax refunds etc for 2006-07 have to be made by March 31.

Read more at The Economic Times

India Inc carts money to pvt banks to duck strike

MUMBAI: India Inc, small businesses and cautious individuals have started transferring money to private sector and foreign banks in the wake of a strike call given by public sector bank unions for next week. Private banks have already sent letters to corporate customers having payroll accounts with them, to transfer money to these accounts to avoid a cash crunch during the last week of the financial year. Customers would face major problems as the next clearing operation after March 23 would, in all likelihood, only be on April 2. If talks do not fructify, bank trade unions have threatened an indefinite strike from May 3.

Read more at Economic Times