Bank Employees Announce Nationwide Strike On January 27

Mumbai: Bank employees across the country will observe a nationwide strike on January 27, 2026, demanding the introduction of a five-day working week in the banking sector.

At present, banks remain closed only on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month, along with Sundays. The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) has argued that several major financial institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), General Insurance Corporation (GIC), and stock exchanges, already operate on a Monday-to-Friday schedule. However, the government is yet to take a final decision on extending the same benefit to bank employees.

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The move to declare all Saturdays as bank holidays was discussed and accepted in principle by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and UFBU during the wage settlement process in March 2024. As part of this process, bank unions proposed compensating the reduced working days by extending daily working hours.

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UFBU has mentioned that there would be no loss in productivity, as employees are prepared to work an additional 40 minutes each day from Monday to Friday.

If the strike is carried out as planned, banking services are expected to remain affected for four consecutive days from January 23 to 26, including the Republic Day holiday on January 26, causing inconvenience to customers and businesses.

UFBU represents nine major unions of bank employees and officers across both public and private sector banks. However, large private lenders such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank have opted out of the strike.

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Earlier, following the strike notice, a conciliation meeting was convened in New Delhi by Chief Labour Commissioner Ms. Sonal Mishra, attended by representatives of UFBU, the Indian Banks’ Association, various banks, and officials from the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance. Since the talks failed to yield any concrete outcome, the unions have decided to proceed with the strike.