Bank Strikes During Festival Season Will Severely Damage Trade, Industry And Exports: World Msme Forum
Sep24,2026
| Jagrati Lahar Bureau | Ludhiana
BANK STRIKES DURING FESTIVAL SEASON WILL SEVERELY DAMAGE
TRADE, INDUSTRY AND EXPORTS: WORLD MSME FORUM
Forum Writes to Prime Minister Seeking Immediate Intervention, Extension of Tax
Deadlines and Waiver of Interest Charges
The World MSME Forum has strongly opposed the proposed bank strike scheduled from
September 28 to September 30, 2026, and has written a strict representation to the Hon'ble
Prime Minister of India seeking immediate intervention to prevent disruption of banking
services across the country.
The Forum stated that September 26 and 27 are already weekend holidays for most bank
customers and the proposed strike would effectively result in five consecutive days of
banking disruption at a time when businesses are preparing for the festive season and are
required to meet various GST, Income Tax and other statutory compliance obligations.
Mr. Baadish Jindal, President, World MSME Forum, said that the proposed disruption will
create serious difficulties for MSMEs, traders, exporters, importers, manufacturers and
service providers across the country. Banking services are the backbone of economic activity
and prolonged disruption can adversely affect payments, collections, exports, imports, salary
disbursements, working capital management and tax compliance.
The proposed three-day nationwide bank strike (28–30 Sept 2026), following the weekend of
Sept 26–27, poses a severe disruption to India’s economy. Over five consecutive days
(Sept 26–30) banks would be closed, coinciding with the half‐yearly closing on Sept 30. This
affects MSMEs, exporters/importers, and festival‐season commerce. The World MSME
Forum demands immediate government intervention: (i) extend all tax/GST/customs
deadlines falling in this period and waive interest/penalties (as allowed under Section 119 IT
Act and GST law); (ii) deem five-day weekend holiday for banking, exempting loan
interest/charges for Sept 26–30 and safeguarding payments; (iii) mandate essential services
– e.g. set up emergency counters, keep RTGS/NEFT/SWIFT running, ensure ATM/liquidity
– to operate on strike days; and (iv) press union leadership to call off the strike, citing
official appeals and economic harm.
The Forum has urged the Prime Minister to immediately convene discussions between bank
unions and the banking management to ensure that normal banking operations continue and
the interests of millions of businesses and citizens are protected.
World MSME Forum has demanded that emergency banking services must remain
operational even during strike days. Essential services relating to cash deposits, withdrawals,
RTGS, NEFT, export-import transactions, government payments, GST payments, Income
Tax payments and cheque clearance should continue without interruption.
The Forum has also demanded that all GST, Income Tax and other statutory filing and
payment deadlines falling during the disruption period should be extended appropriately to
ensure that taxpayers are not penalized for circumstances beyond their control.
Further, the Forum has requested the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India and
banking regulators to direct all banks to waive interest, penal interest, late payment charges,
cheque bounce charges and other financial penalties applicable during the five-day disruption
period. Businesses should not be forced to bear additional financial burdens due to
circumstances created by a banking strike.
The World MSME Forum pointed out that the Indian banking sector has reported strong
profits in recent years and customers reasonably expect uninterrupted essential services.
While employees have the right to raise their concerns, the interests of crores of customers,
taxpayers and businesses must also be safeguarded.
The Forum further observed that private sector banks are increasingly preferred by customers
due to their service-oriented approach and operational efficiency. Public sector banks must
also ensure that customer convenience remains the highest priority and that essential services
are never completely disrupted.
The Forum stated that in several countries operating under a five-day work week, emergency
banking arrangements and customer service facilities remain available to ensure that citizens
and businesses do not suffer. Similar arrangements should be made in India whenever
banking services are affected by strikes or extended holidays.
World MSME Forum has called upon the Government of India to take urgent and decisive
steps to protect the country's economic activity, particularly during the festive season when
trade and industrial transactions are at their peak.
1. Extension of Statutory Deadlines: Many taxpayers and businesses have
payment/filing due dates in this interval (e.g. tax/TDS deposits, GST remittances,
customs duty payments, export/import documentation). Under Section 119(2)(b) of
the Income-tax Act, the CBDT may extend any due date “in public interest or for
cause beyond control of the assessee.” Similarly, CGST Act allows due-date
extension when a holiday prevents compliance. We request a joint CBDT–CBIC
notification immediately extending all relevant deadlines falling on Sept 26–30 to the
next working day(s), and waiving any penal charges for this period. (As precedence,
CBDT extended the Sept 30, 2025 tax audit deadline to Oct 31 due to floods.)
2. Waiver of Interest and Charges: Borrowers should not incur interest or penalties on
loan repayments, cheque clearances, or tax payments delayed due to this banking
holiday period. We urge RBI to direct banks (PSBs and private) to suspend penal
rates for any payment/service falling between Sept 26–30. Such relief is customary
for natural calamities and should apply here as well, since the Treasury itself calls this
an exceptional situation.
3. Essential Banking Services: We request the Finance Ministry to issue an order (via
Gazette or release) declaring banking services essential from Sept 28–30. This should
mandate emergency arrangements: designated branches open (on a roster) for urgent
needs (cash withdrawals/deposits), uninterrupted ATM/cash supply, and full
functioning of RTGS/NEFT/SWIFT for payments and trade settlements. (RBI has
already approved Sunday operations; a similar mandate is needed for the strike days.)
Please instruct PSBs to implement contingency plans (as was convened in the Sept 21
DFS meeting).
4. Resolution of Strike: Finally, we earnestly appeal that the Government press union
leaders to defer the strike. The Government’s concessions (such as abeyance of the
PLI scheme) have addressed prior demands, and ongoing dialogue should continue.
However, if the strike proceeds, the Government must mitigate its impact on the
public.
The World MSME Forum believes that uninterrupted banking services are critical for India's
economic growth and that the interests of trade, industry and taxpayers must be protected at
all times.
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