Several bank branches across the country, however, were open, especially those run by senior-level officers, but they carried out minimal work. There was no clearing, cash transactions, guarantees or treasury operations in most public sector and old private banks.

"We kept the branch open just to do a public relations exercise since we want our customers to understand our situation. Work will be restricted to internal matters and some funds transfer within the bank today," said the branch head of a public sector bank here.

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday cleared amounts worth Rs 3,000 crore, largely with the new private banks and foreign banks, against a daily average of Rs 8,000 crore. The number of banks that took part in clearing operations totalled 70 against the usual total of around 110.

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has already had six rounds of negotiations with the unions and is open for talks despite Friday's strike, says a senior IBA official.