Employees of IDBI Bank will go on strike from March 28 till March 31. With March 24, March 25, March 26 and March 27 already holidays on account of festivals and routine holidays, it would be a virtual closure of the bank for several days. However, the bank will remain open on March 26.

"A section of employees of the Bank have served a Notice of Strike from March 28, 2016 to March 31, 2016. If the strike materializes, normal Banking Services may be affected. In order to minimize the inconvenience to customers, the Bank has decided to keep all its offices open on March 26, 2016. Further, on the days of strike, if the same materializes, services through alternate delivery channels viz. ATMs, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking etc., will remain available as usual."

Bank employees have been protesting a move by the government to privatize the bank. This was on the lines of Axis Bank, where the government had reduced its stake. There are already reports that a few big institutions from abroad had shown interest in taking a stake in the bank.

Some of them have even had a due diligence at the bank done. There were reports in the Mint that the International Finance Corp., one of the investors interested in buying a stake in IDBI Bank Ltd, has finished inspection of the assets and liabilities of the state-run lender.

The stake sale move may pave the way for the government to look at sales in other government owned banks as well. Like most of the other government owned banks, the bank is saddled with mounting problems of non performing assets. It also has a larger equity capital compared to other peers in the business.

Shares in IDBI Bank were last trading down by 1.3 per cent at Rs 69.10. Investors still want some clarity before they buy the shares.

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