Bank strike may hit trading volumes on Nov 12

Dealers are bracing for low volumes across all markets in India on Wednesday as unions at most banks have called for a nationwide strike that is expected to leave trading rooms with minimal staffing but not shut down activity altogether.

The strike is expected to hit all state-run banks, and also some private lenders, and could also impact market functions such as trade settlements to some extent, the dealers said.

Still the Reserve Bank of India will operate as usual and can provide funds via its overnight repo window, traders also said.

"There will be minimum presence in the treasury department to run the necessary functions," said a dealer at a state-run bank.

"So volumes will be affected in government securities, call and forex."

Trade unions have called a bank strike on Wednesday for all state-controlled lenders over a set of demands including for higher wages and a five-day work week.

Vishwas Utagi, one of the leaders of a union representing state-run lenders, said he expected 1 million employees to participate in the strike, although the number could not be independently verified.

(Reporting by Suvashree Dey Choudhury, Devidutta Tripathy, Swati Bhat, and Abhishek Vishnoi)