Thiruvananthapuram: Banks in Kerala will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday owing to two days of a general strike organised by trade unions. Coupled with the the two general holidays, this amounts to a total of four non-working days for banks in the state.
Of the total nine organisations of bank employees, three are taking part in the general strike. Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), All-India Bank Employees Association and All-India Bank Officers' Associations will join the strike.
Since most of the bank employees in the State owe allegiance to these three organisations, the functioning of public sector banks, cooperative banks, and private scheduled banks will be seriously hit.
But the functioning of the new generation banks such as HDFC and ICICI may not be hit.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has directed cooperative banks in the state to function on Saturday and Sunday. The directive was issued considering the possibility of banks remaining closed for four days, Minister for Cooperation and Registration V N Vasavan said. Following the minister's directive, the registrar of cooperatives societies said those cooperative banks that are normally closed on Saturday and Sunday would function as usual on these two days.
After four days of closure, banks will remain open on March 30 and 31.
Following this, there will be a bank holiday on April 1 due to the annual financial closing. It will be business as usual for banks from April 2.
