The All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), the country's largest association of bank officers, has called on the Centre to introduce a five-day work week in banks, saying the move would complement the government's push for austerity and energy conservation.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the union said the proposal goes beyond employee service conditions and should be viewed as a practical reform linked to fuel savings, lower energy consumption and environmental protection.
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AIBOC said banking operations cannot completely shift to work-from-home arrangements due to the need for physical presence in branch services, cash handling, compliance, financial inclusion work and implementation of government schemes.
“In such a scenario, reducing the physical working week is the most viable alternative” reads the letter.
According to the union, a five-day schedule would significantly cut daily commuting by lakhs of bank employees and reduce customer visits for routine banking services, especially in urban and semi-urban areas.
This, it said, would help lower petrol and diesel consumption, ease traffic congestion and reduce electricity usage and operational pressure on bank branches.
The confederation also highlighted the impact on rural and remote regions where many branches rely on diesel-powered generators due to irregular electricity supply.
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Fewer working days, it said, would reduce fuel use and carbon emissions. AIBOC maintained that customer service and financial inclusion efforts would not suffer under a five-day work week.
Instead, it said the change would make the banking system more efficient, sustainable and aligned with modern service delivery practices.
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