New Delhi  - About a million employees of India's public sector banks Wednesday went on a two-day nationwide strike to protest the government's policies in the banking industry and the delay in revising wages.

Conciliatory talks between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) representatives and Chief Labour Commissioner SK Mukhopadhyaya in New Delhi on Tuesday failed to yield any results.

"Talks with the chief labour commissioner have failed and we proceeded with the strike," UFBU leader VK Gupta told the PTI news agency.

Banking transactions and services were disrupted across an estimated 60,000 branches of 26 public sector banks across the country.

"Banking operations have come to a standstill," Rajen Nagar, president of All India Bank Employees Association, a part of the UFBU, told the IANS news agency.

"Once the strike is over, we will sit together and chalk out our future course of action," he said.

The UFBU, an umbrella organization of nine bank unions which together consist of more than 900,000 workers, has been protesting delays in the settlement of issues related to wage revisions and pensions.

The unions also oppose the government's policy of privatizing and merging state-run banks, as well as allowing foreign direct investment in the banking sector, Gupta said.

Last month, employees of India's largest bank, the State Bank of India, and its associate banks went on a strike to protest its merger with another bank.

More employees of government banks also went on strike to protest the same issue. Despite the protests, the bank was merged with the State Bank of India. dpa