Unions claim shut down of RBI operations as employees take mass leave

KOLKATA: Reserve Bank of India employee unions said that there mass casual leave plan is fully successful and the central bank functions have come to a halt on Thursday.

"It's fully successful across the country and payment and settlement system is not functioning," said Samir Ghosh, convenor of the united forum of four RBI unions.

The agitation is to protest the government’s plan to curtail RBI’s role in public debt management and against the government’s plan to increase its stake in the monetary policy committee. The employees are also demanding revision of basic pension, which remained fixed and immutable.

About 17,000 RBI staffers have joined the agitation, union leaders claim.