Over 1 Million bankers to go on strike in India from July 29

Around 10 lakh bankers across the country are expected to go on a strike on July 29 to oppose the government policies related to the banking industry, a top leader of All India Bank Employees’s Association (AIBEA) has said. (Economic Times)

At the call of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) consisting of nine unions with an employee membership of around 10 lakh workers and officials, the bankers would go on a strike opposing the antipeople banking reform policies of the central government, CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary, AIBEA, said on Tuesday. The employees of public sector banks, old private banks, regional rural banks, foreign banks and cooperative banks will participate in the strike, he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, around 45,000 employees in the five associate banks of the State Bank of India SBI) will strike work this week, said a leader of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA). “Only the workmen (clerical and messenger cadre) will be on strike. However, work in the branches will be affected,” C.H. Venkatachalam, the AIBEA General Secretary, told IANS. He said the employees of SBI would not be on strike. The union is opposed to the government’s decision to merge State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore (SBT), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), State Bank of Mysore (SBM) and State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) with the SBI.

The Total lending and deposits under management with the Indian Banks increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.7 per cent and 19.7 per cent, respectively, during FY07-14 and are further poised for growth, backed by demand for housing and personal finance. Total asset size of banking sector assets is expected to increase to US$ 28.5 trillion by FY25. Deposits have grown at a CAGR of 13.6 per cent during FY05—15 to an estimated US$ 1.48 trillion in FY15. Deposit growth has been mainly driven by strong growth in savings amid rising disposable income levels.(IBEF)

Indian banks are increasingly focusing on adopting integrated approach to risk management. Banks have already embraced the international banking supervision accord of Basel II. According to RBI, majority of the banks already meet capital requirements of Basel III, which has a deadline of March 31, 2019. Most of the banks have put in place the framework for asset-liability match, credit and derivatives risk management

The Indian banking system consists of 26 public sector banks, 20 private sector banks, 43 foreign banks, 56 regional rural banks, 1,589 urban cooperative banks and 93,550 rural cooperative banks, in addition to cooperative credit institutions. The Indian banking sector’s assets reached US$ 1.8 trillion in FY14 from US$ 1.3 trillion in FY10, with 70 per cent of it being accounted by the public sector (IBEF).