•
•
•
•
•
•
•
In a bid to soften the blow of an impending nationwide bank strike, public sector banks (PSBs) will remain open for customers on Sunday, September 27 — a day they would normally be closed. The special opening comes as the Department of Financial Services (DFS) directed banks to help customers complete essential banking transactions before branches shut down for a three-day strike beginning Monday, September 28.
The strike, called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), is scheduled to run through Wednesday, September 30, and represents the second phase of industrial action this month, following a one-day strike on September 11. Because September 26 falls on the fourth Saturday — already a routine bank holiday — and September 27 is a regular Sunday, the three-day strike threatens to compound into an extended five-day stretch of disrupted branch services, from September 26 through September 30.
Adding further complexity, September 30 also marks the half-yearly closing for banks — a critical accounting date typically associated with heavy transaction volumes, including bulk clearances and settlements. The overlap has prompted authorities to urge customers not to wait until the last moment.
In an official communication, the DFS instructed public sector banks to inform customers about the strike through SMS, email, and other channels, and to advise them to complete essential banking activities well in advance. Banks have also been directed to keep strategic and government-facing branches operational during the strike by deploying non-striking staff and administrative personnel wherever necessary, to ensure continuity of critical services.
UFBU, which claims to represent over 90% of India's banking workforce, is striking primarily over the long-pending demand for a five-day banking week — a proposal the Indian Banks' Association reportedly agreed to as part of a 2024 wage settlement but which remains unimplemented over two and a half years later. Additional demands include pension revisions, a uniform dearness allowance formula for pensioners, and the option for employees under the National Pension System to switch to the older pension scheme. The unions have also opposed the government's revised Performance-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, calling it discriminatory toward junior staff.
Customers are strongly advised to use the special Sunday opening to handle cash deposits, withdrawals, and cheque-related transactions, since digital banking channels — while functional throughout the strike — cannot fully substitute for branch-dependent services like large cash transactions or physical document processing.
Should the strike fail to move the needle on union demands, UFBU has warned it will escalate to an indefinite nationwide strike starting October 26, 2026 — a scenario that could cause far more significant and prolonged disruption to India's banking system.
