Unions of officers' public sector banks have deferred their proposed two-day strike after receiving assurance from Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar on looking into their concerns.

Four unions of bank officers had threatened to go on a two-day strike on 26 and 27 September to protest the consolidation of 10 state-run lenders into four.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the unions said, "Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar was positive in formation of a committee consisting of all concerned to address the issues arising out of the proposed merger of 10 banks including preserving the identity of all the banks. An appeal was made to us to revisit our strike call in view of the discussions."

It further said that the 48-hour strike stands deferred considering the positive and workable solution by the Finance Secretary. This means that banking activity will not be affected this week.

On 30 August, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the government's decision to merge 10 public sector banks into four to create fewer lenders with stronger balance sheets that could compete globally.

The government has identified four state-run banks- Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Allahabad Bank as the anchor banks for the merger process.

Punjab National Bank will absorb Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank forming the second largest public sector bank. Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank will merge to become fourth-largest PSB.

Union Bank of India will merge with Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank while Allahabad Bank will absorb Indian Bank.