Telangana Bank Branches to Shut for Four Days as UFBU Calls September 11 Strike
Physical branch banking operations across 6,801 public and private bank branches in Telangana will remain shut for four consecutive days starting Friday, September 11, 2026, due to a nationwide one-day strike called by bank unions combined with an extended weekend and festival holiday.
The strike, called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), runs from the midnight of Thursday, September 10, to the midnight of Friday, September 11. Normal branch operations will not resume immediately after the strike, as banks remain closed on September 12 for the second Saturday and September 13 for Sunday. Monday, September 14, will also be a public holiday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. The four-day closure will halt over-the-counter services, including cheque deposits, cash withdrawals through tellers, and the processing of home, automobile, and gold loans.
Ahead of the shutdown, the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) Telangana advised customers to complete their essential banking transactions well in advance. State Bank of India (SBI), which serves as the Convenor of the SLBC in the State, stated that while efforts are being made to run skeleton services, customers are likely to face inconvenience if operations are disrupted. The SLBC urged customers to make use of ATMs for cash needs and to use internet banking, UPI, and other digital channels.
Official data updated through June 30, 2026, shows that Telangana has 6,801 bank branches across public and private sectors. Of these, 3,324 branches belong to public sector banks, where the impact of the strike is anticipated to be most severe because UFBU affiliates draw most of their membership from state-run lenders. The State has 1,615 urban branches, with the rest split almost equally between rural and semi-urban areas. State Bank of India accounts for 1,301 branches in the State.
The UFBU, an umbrella organisation comprising nine bank unions, called the strike as the first stage of an agitation demanding a five-day working week and opposing a Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme dated November 19, 2024, for the 2025–26 financial year. Although the Centre decided to keep the PLI scheme in abeyance for discussion during bipartite settlement talks, the unions maintained their strike call.
