The All-India Bank Employees' Association said Thursday it was planning a strike in State Bank of India's subsidiary banks in the first week of July to protest the country's largest lender's decision to merge these entities with itself.
AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam said the SBI management has made it clear it would expedite the merger process. The association had chalked out the strike plan in view of this immediate threat, Venkatachalam added.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the government would support the public sector bank's plans on consolidation to enhance the competitiveness of Indian banks globally.
Venkatachalam was of the view that the Indian banking industry did not need a consolidation of banks. Rather, what was required was an expansion of the PSBs. In order to achieve the objective of total financial inclusion, PSBs have to proliferate and expand in un-banked areas, he said.
While on the one hand, consolidation and global competition would result in the monopoly of a few big banks and deviation from the needs of the common man and social sectors, on the other, it would push these banks and their resources towards bailing out corporate houses -- domestic and foreign.
The merger of the banks would lead to the closure of a large number of bank branches, thereby curtailing banking services for the masses. The closure of branches would also jeopardise the jobs of bank employees, he said.
A mere merger of banks would not make them financially stronger. Nor were these PSBs created for global competition, Venkatachalam argued.
So, both from the country's point of view and the point of view of the social objectives of these banks, the policy of merger was unwarranted and highly retrograde, he contended.
"If the government, or the Reserve Bank of India, or any bank management takes any unilateral measure towards the merger and consolidation of the PSBs, it would be protested with nation-wide strikes by bank employees," he threatened.
The general council of the AIBEA has been convened in Mumbai on July 9 and 10 to chart out the future course of action, Venkatachalam said.