UBI Staff Protests IPO

UBI Staff Protests IPOApproximately 7,500 staff members of the United Bank of India (UBI) Tuesday struck work to protest the bank's IPO.

According to the reports, UBI is disinvesting 15.8% of its stake.

UBI Employees Union (UBIEU) general secretary Sukhomoy Sarkar said, "Till now the strike is very successful. Around 1,100-1,200 branches of the bank across the country were completely shut down."

The public sector banking institution runs 1,507 divisions across the country.

He added that the strike was completely successful in West Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, Manipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu and partly successful in Assam, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

Two unions of UBI took part in the strike. One is UBIEU, which is affiliated to the Bank Employees Federation of India, and the other is United Bank Employees Association (UBIEA), which is affiliated to the All India Bank Employees Association.

The price band of the issue is set at Rs 60-66 per share and the issue shuts on Feb 25.

UBI is offering 50 million equity shares of Rs 10 per share.

Sarkar said number of employees present in the bank's head office was really low.

"Of the total 900 employees (including all grades) working in the headquarter, only 30-35 were present today (Tuesday)," he said. (With Input from Agencies)