SBI strike on May 25 and 26: State Bank issues advisory as operations may be hit by two-day staff protest - READ full message

The State Bank of India has issued a formal customer advisory confirming that the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation has given notice for a two-day strike on May 25 and 26, 2026. The bank has requested its more than 52 crore customers to shift to alternative channels for their banking needs during this period, including ATMs, Automated Deposit and Withdrawal Machines, Customer Service Points, internet banking, the YONO app, mobile banking, and UPI.

The bank stated it is making efforts to keep essential services running across its 23,200-plus branches during the strike period, but the advisory makes clear that normal branch operations could be significantly disrupted. SBI said it sincerely regrets any inconvenience the situation may cause.

For customers with time-sensitive banking requirements, the message is straightforward. Plan ahead, go digital and avoid branch dependency over the coming days.

Why the Strike Is Happening

The strike call from AISBISF did not emerge overnight. The federation has been raising a cluster of long-pending grievances with the bank management for an extended period, and it says the breakdown of the bilateral dialogue mechanism has left employees with no option but to escalate.

In a letter addressed to Members of Parliament, the federation described the situation as one where unresolved issues and the systematic undermining of established negotiation processes had created growing unrest and frustration among staff across the bank. It urged MPs to take the matter up with the Finance Ministry, the Department of Financial Services and the Ministry of Labour and Employment to push for meaningful dialogue with SBI management.

UNI Global Union, the Switzerland-based international labour body, has extended solidarity to the striking workers, with its General Secretary Christy Hoffman writing to the federation and calling on SBI management to return to the negotiating table in good faith and honour its commitments.

The federation's grievances cover several distinct areas, each of which reflects a longer pattern of what the union describes as management neglect and contractual violations.

The most striking element concerns messengers — staff responsible for transporting sensitive documents, cash and packages between branches. The union says no fresh recruitment of messengers has taken place for nearly three decades. The federation described this as a matter of profound pain and national concern, arguing that the country's largest and most profitable public sector bank was systematically shutting its doors on underprivileged and unemployed youth from weaker sections of society.

On security, the union pointed out that armed guard recruitment was last conducted in 2022 despite a documented rise in ATM thefts and attacks on bank premises. The federation framed this not merely as a staffing gap but as a direct threat to public funds, customer safety and institutional credibility.

The outsourcing issue has generated particularly strong language from the union. AISBISF accused SBI of large-scale outsourcing of permanent and ongoing roles, including trade finance operations, agricultural associate duties, messenger work and armed guard services, in what it described as a blatant violation of earlier bilateral settlements. Beyond the job security dimension, the federation warned that outsourcing in sensitive banking operations creates real risks of data privacy breaches, misuse of KYC and account information, fraud and identity theft, exposing both customers and the institution to serious harm.

On pensions, the union claimed that over 55,000 award staff and a similar number of officers are suffering significant erosion of their retirement savings because SBI has not implemented a Finance Ministry direction and PFRDA guidelines allowing National Pension System subscribers to change their pension fund manager annually.

Inter-circle transfers for employees recruited from 2019 onwards have also been unilaterally stopped by the bank, the federation alleged, despite a 2017 memorandum of settlement explicitly providing for such transfers.

The Timing Makes This Worse for Customers

The two-day strike arrives at an unusually disruptive point in the calendar. The fourth Saturday and Sunday of the month fall immediately before the strike begins, meaning bank branches will already be closed on May 24. The strike then runs through May 25 and 26. And in many states, May 27 is a public holiday on account of Eid al-Adha.

For customers in those states, this sequence effectively creates a five-day window during which normal SBI branch services will be either unavailable or severely limited. That kind of extended disruption, particularly for businesses, senior citizens and rural customers who depend on branch banking, carries genuine practical consequences.

SBI holds approximately one fifth of the country's total banking activity. A two-day strike at an institution of that scale, compounded by surrounding holidays, is not a minor inconvenience. It is a significant disruption to the financial infrastructure that millions of households and businesses rely on daily.

What Customers Should Do Right Now

SBI's advisory lays out the practical path forward clearly. For cash needs, ATMs and Automated Deposit and Withdrawal Machines will remain operational. Customer Service Points across the country will continue to function. For most banking transactions, YONO, internet banking, mobile banking and UPI offer complete alternatives to branch visits.

Customers with urgent requirements involving cheque deposits, fixed deposit renewals, loan disbursements or document submissions should attempt to complete those transactions before May 24. Waiting until after the holiday sequence resolves could mean delays stretching beyond a week in the worst case.

Whether the strike actually proceeds or whether last-minute negotiations between SBI management and the federation produce a resolution before May 25 remains to be seen. The federation has said it wants dialogue. The bank has not yet responded publicly with any concrete offer to address the demands.

Until that changes, 52 crore customers are being asked to plan around a strike that both sides, in theory, still have time to prevent.