Banking services across Tripura were severely disrupted on Tuesday as branches of nationalised banks remained closed following a nationwide strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), causing widespread inconvenience to customers across the state.
The shutdown marked the fifth consecutive day of disruption to regular banking operations. Officials said that normal services had already been affected over the previous four days due to a combination of national and local holidays, leaving customers with limited access to branch-based facilities for nearly a week.
According to a strike notice issued by the UFBU—an umbrella body comprising nine bank unions and associations—the one-day nationwide strike was observed from midnight of January 26 to midnight of January 27. The unions are demanding the implementation of a five-day work week in the banking sector, in line with an agreement previously signed with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). This includes the declaration of all remaining Saturdays as official bank holidays.
The UFBU has also raised several other demands, including regulated working hours, early implementation of performance-linked incentives (PLI) for bank employees, revision and updation of pension benefits, and ex-gratia payments for retired employees of private sector banks. The unions further called for early resolution of long-pending issues that had earlier been assured by the IBA.
In addition, the unions opposed the proposed disinvestment of IDBI Bank, the merger of three regional rural banks, and what they termed as growing privatisation and increasing foreign influence in the Indian banking and financial system.
Bank officials said that while efforts were made to ensure limited services, operations at most branches and administrative offices were affected due to large-scale participation of staff in the strike. Customers were advised in advance to complete urgent transactions and rely on ATMs and digital banking platforms.
Despite this, long queues were reported at several ATMs, and customers seeking services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, cheque clearances and passbook updates faced difficulties.
Bank authorities expressed regret over the inconvenience caused and said normal banking services are expected to resume across Tripura from Wednesday.
