The standard of five-day week in banks is likely to be implemented from the new year

MUMBAI: With the finalization of bilateral talks between bank employees' unions and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), a five-day working week is likely to be implemented from mid-December or from the new year of 2024, along with an 18-20 per cent increase in salary for bank employees.

The announcement of the five-day week will have to come with the announcement of the wage hike or soon after the announcement of the wage hike, IBA sources said. The existing wage contracts with the country's public sector bank employees are set to expire in November, 2022. Discussions have been going on between IBA and bank employee associations for the past one year.

Apart from the wage hike, the five-day week norm is also to be implemented in regional rural banks. In July, 2020, a 15 percent increase in salary was implemented for 8.50 lakh bank employees.

In the five-day week standard, banks will work five days a week and will be closed on Saturdays and Sundays. However, the daily working hours of the employees will increase, the sources added.

With the increase in digital transactions in the country, the people of the banking industry believe that there is no need to make six-day working days mandatory in banks. More than 80 percent of banking operations, including opening accounts in banks, are now being done digitally.