The three‑day strike that had been slated to begin on Monday was called off just hours before its start, after the United Forum of Bank Unions met the Indian Banks' Association at 9:30 pm on Sunday.
The decision stunned a wave of bank tellers across the country, who had already turned in overtime on Sunday to prep for the strike. Memes flooded social media, pairing Rajinikanth’s melancholy stare from "Jailer" with the headline that the strike had been cancelled, while another image of Salman Khan’s character from "Jaan‑E‑Mann" underscored the collective disappointment.
In its statement, UFBU said the two sides agreed on several points, including the formation of a joint committee to examine making Saturday a bank holiday. The committee will also review the PLI scheme for Scale IV and above officers, a matter that the IBA has promised to bring before the government.
A teller in Mumbai’s city bank told me she had to finish a client’s loan paperwork late into the night after the strike was called off, and she fears the extra workload will spill into the rest of the week.
Both unions have scheduled their first joint meeting for Monday, 28 September, to set a timetable for the Saturday holiday study and to decide how many Saturdays banks should close moving forward. The outcome could reshape banking hours for the next fiscal year.