Banking services across the country were paralysed on Thursday, the first of the two-day nationwide strike called by the united forum of bank unions (UFBU) to protest against the proposed Bank privatisation Bill.

Most bank branches remained closed after more than eight lakh bank employees struck work to participate in the strike, C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association ( AIBEA), told BusinessLine .

Bank Employees from Public sector banks, several old generation private sector banks and a few employees ( clerical and Class IV cadre) of Foreign Banks too participated in the strike, sources said.

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The two-day bank strike received support from unions of public sector enterprises, public sector insurance companies, and the RBI Staff association. In Tamil Nadu, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) too extended its support to the 2-day nationwide bank strike called by the bank unions.

While Automated Teller Machines ( ATMs) operations were partly affected on Thursday, there was a complete stoppage of work in the cheque clearance process due to the non-availability of bank staff, according to Venkatachalam.

However, bank customers could do digital payment transactions out of their internet banking facility and mobile Apps of their banks.

Meanwhile, there was no sign of the government bringing the Banking privatisation Bill in Parliament to introduce on Friday with the official business list for the day, not mentioning its likely introduction. The proposed Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill is yet to receive formal approval from the Union Cabinet.

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