It was business as usual across the major metros on Tuesday despite the all-India strike call given by trade unions.

MUMBAI

Mumbai had its complete quota of buses, taxis and autorickshaws on the roads and offices were bustling as always. However, there was a ‘partial response' from public sector banks. While the clerical staff joined the strike, some bank branches were open with a section of officers reporting for work.

Cheque clearing operations and cash transactions were partially hit. In treasury operations – forex, gilts and call markets – customer flows were lower than normal, due to some branches being shut. Retail operations were largely affected. High value transactions did not suffer due to online facilities like NEFT and RTGS.

According to RBI data, 94 of the 95 clearing houses in Mumbai were operational. The volume of cheques cleared were 2-2.25 lakh, against an average of 7-7.5 lakh per day. The value of transactions was around Rs 1,500 crore, against an average of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore per day.

DELHI

In Delhi, it is the Gurgaon-Manesar belt which is traditionally volatile but Tuesday was quiet.

“There has been no impact on us, neither in manufacturing nor at the supply chain end,” a Maruti-Suzuki spokesperson said. Similar sentiments were echoed by Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India officials.

However, Suzuki Motorcycle India's plant was closed. “We had kept last Sunday as a working day in anticipation of today's strike call,” said Mr Atul Gupta, Vice-President (Sales and Marketing).

Mr Rajiv Bajaj, CFO of the Noida-based Panasonic, said the plant was on a holiday due to the (UP) elections. Mr Shantanu Das Gupta, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Strategy (South Asia), Whirlpool, said there would be ‘some monetary impact'.

“Since it is the month-end, we had to send shipments to dealers. We prepared in advance for the strike by shipping out a lot the day before.”

KOLKATA

As for Kolkata, Coal India had “near normal” operations at its mines. Mr R. Mohan Das, Director (Personnel and Industrial Relations), said nearly 80 per cent of the nearly 3.7 lakh workforce at the subsidiaries was present.

According to him, the recent wage negotiation may have convinced workers to defy the strike call. Coal India recently agreed to enhance salaries by 25 per cent from July 2011 to June ‘17.

Hindustan Copper's Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh mines (as also its smelting unit in Jharkhand) were non-operational as employees stayed off work. Mr Shakeel Ahmed, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line that the company lost 0.27 per cent of its annual turnover worth around Rs 3.25 crore.

National Aluminum Company's CMD, Mr B.L. Bagra, said the plants in Angul and Damanjodi in Orissa were operating normally. This was also true for Tata Steel's operations in Jamshedpur as well as its coal and iron ore mines in Orissa and Jharkhand.

While SAIL's Bhilai plant was unaffected by the strike, work at the Dalli-Rajhara mine in Chhattisgarh was partially hit.

SAIL's other plants at Durgapur, Burnpur, Kulti (in West Bengal), Rourkela (Orissa) and Bokaro (Jharkhand) saw slightly less-than-normal attendance and operations were “marginally” affected.

Century Ply group's plant in Kolkata, employing around 2,500 people, was non-operative as striking workers did not let others in, said its CMD, Mr Sajjan Bhajanka.

comment COMMENT NOW