New Delhi: Assocham on Tuesday said that the day-long strike observed by public sector banks on February 28 may negatively impact forex and paper clearing transactions worth up to Rs 1.3 lakh crore.

“The all India bank strike might also impact deployment of gross bank credit worth up to Rs 1,600 crore,” Assocham secretary general D.S. Rawat said.

He said that the Centre should work towards driving reforms in public sector banking to rein in the huge amount of NPAs and improve the lower levels of credit off-take.

Branches of public sector banks remained either closed or non-operational on Tuesday as staffers and officers went ahead with their day-long strike pressing for various demands, including accountability of top executives in the wake of mounting bad loans.

Services like cash deposits and withdrawal from branches and cheque clearances have been hit hard by the strike, which was called under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU). The UFBU is an umbrella body of 9 unions, but two of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliates are not part of the stir.

Unions are also opposed to the proposed labour reforms of the government and outsourcing of permanent jobs in the banking sector.

Some of the demands include compensation of employees and officers for extra hours they put in following demonetisation in November and early initiation of next wage revision.

They have also demanded adequate recruitment in all cadres, stringent measures to recover bad loans and accountability of top executives. Besides, they have pitched for criminal action against wilful defaulters.