NEW DELHI, Sept 24: Nearly a million workers of state-owned Indian banks went on strike from Wednesday to protest against moves to merge public sector institutions and demand better wages, union leaders said.

The two-day walkout disrupted clearing, cash handling and money market operations, the banks said.

State-run banks are the biggest players in bond and currency markets.

“The strike affected our operations and there would be a significant business loss because of this,” said S.K. Goel, chairman of United Commercial Bank, echoing the across-the-board disruption on Wednesday.

The workers’ union threatened to step up the agitation.

“The strike is complete across the country and we will meet shortly to chalk out further course of action,” United Forum of Bank Unions convenor C. H. Venkatachalam told reporters.

He said the workers boycotted work after talks with the authorities failed on Tuesday.

The forum is an umbrella group representing nine unions.

In August, the State Bank of India, the country’s largest bank, said it hoped to merge all its seven associate banks with itself. Union officials say there are plans to merge other state-run banks too.

There are 27 public sector banks in India’s overwhelmingly state-dominated financial services sector that have thousands of branches across the country.

—AFP