The two-day general strike called by central trade unions and sectoral federations which began on Monday hit banking services in the State.
In the State, 25,000 bank employees and officers spread across 7,600 branches and offices of various banks participated in the strike responding to the strike call by the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), K.S. Krishna, joint secretary, AIBEA, said.
Across India, the strike affected banking services with five lakh employees in public, private, cooperative, and regional rural banks responding to the banking unions' call to join the strike.
Apart from AIBEA, the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), and the All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA) also are participating in the strike.
Banking sector unions have demanded the withdrawal of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill aimed at privatisation of public sector banks and the corporate loan write-off policy, and sought stringent measures for recovery of big-ticket defaulted loans.
AIBEA also organised a rally in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday as part of the strike.
