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G. Krishnaswamy

On protest leave: The Reserve Bank of India officers and employees protesting in Hyderabad on Tuesday. -

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 21 The one-day strike by the employees of Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday brought payment and settlement operations to a near standstill across the country.

The strike, which covered all departments of the RBI countrywide, affected cheque clearing, electronic clearance operations, real time gross settlement, and forex transactions.

However in some centres, where the clearing houses are run by banks, clearing operations took place.

Money markets were also adversely affected. Both the inter-bank call money market and the secondary market in government securities were closed today on account of the strike.

“As the central bank’s trading platform was closed on Tuesday, there was no trading in government securities”, said a treasury head with a private sector bank.

Though the forex markets were open, trading volumes were thin, said dealers. The RBI conducted a two-day repo and reverse repo auction on Tuesday in view of the strike. The strike called by the United Forum of Reserve Bank Employees and Officers saw 25,000 officers and employees of the RBI going on a one-day mass casual leave. Even the Chief General Managers participated in the strike, said Mr Samir Ghosh, Convenor of the Forum. The strike was called to protest “the unilateral withdrawal” of the scheme of the updation of pension which would reduce the monthly pension of RBI retirees.

The central bank had in 2003 updated pension for employees who retired before November 1997, which brought their basic pay in alignment with the basic pay prevalent at that time. The employees had planned a strike in August 2006, after the government instructed the RBI to withdraw the benefit, but withdrew after an assurance from the then Governor, Dr Y. V. Reddy.

This benefit was withdrawn this month, which has led to the strike.

The other demands which led to the strike were continuation of updation of basic pension after revision of pay scales, upward revision of rate of interest on provident fund, commutation of pension at enhanced rates and grant of family pension at 30 per cent without ceiling. If the employee demands are not met, more strikes are on the horizon, said Mr Ghosh to Business Line.

More Stories on : RBI & Other Central Banks | Trade & Labour Unions

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