The united forum of bank unions has announced an all India strike on August 5, 2011. The main reason behind the strike is the inequality in prioritization of sectors in terms of lending as felt from the Banking Law (Amendment) Bill. The Bill is said to focus more on lending to industries while the same amount of importance doesnt seem to have been rendered to other important sectors like education and agriculture.
"There should be proper prioritisation in setting up interest rates as the country's future lies equally in agriculture and education, as it does in industries," Mr C.H. Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association said.
He said that while as much as Rs 70,000 crore was being lent to micro finance institutions (MFIs), the farmers who are in need of loans were not adequately provided with the same.
Another factor which he quoted was the interest rate bias. While education loans have been set at an average of 12% and farm loans at 9%, most industries also happen to be charged with similar interest rates.
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