Banking services were hit across the State for the second consecutive day on Thursday as the bankers continued their stir to protest the hiked salary amount offered by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
All banking services like deposits, cheque clearances, loan approvals and other services were crippled as the bank branches were closed. ATMs also dried up after few hours as currency chests were closed.
People had to hop from one ATM to another to withdraw money but were disappointed to find most of them closed or without money.
As many 5,000 branches of public sector banks were closed and 8,000 ATMs had little or no cash. This strike is claimed to have cost a business loss of Rs 8,000 to the banks. The employees on the day demonstrated outside the banks and shouted slogans against the management.
The month end two-day stir also caused problems for the Government employees and pensioners.
However, operations in the private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were almost normal. Banking operations are likely to become normal from Friday.