New Delhi, Aug 6 - Nearly one million bank employees in India, including some with private and foreign banks, went on a two-day nationwide strike Thursday demanding higher wages and a better social security net.

The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions -- an umbrella organisation representing nine unions of officers and other staff in the banking industry.

According to reports coming in from across the country, people were able to withdraw money from automated teller machines (ATMs) even though other services like getting demand drafts and obtaining cheque books were affected.

'No transactions till Saturday in any public sector bank or branches,' said K.F. Mamadapur, secretary of one of the striking unions, the All-India State Bank Officers' Federation, in Bangalore.

Apart from the staff in all state-run banks, those with private entities like Catholic Syrian Bank and foreign ones like HSBC also joined the agitation. But the operations of some institutions like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Standard Chartered were unaffected.

'Around 10 lakh employees across all the public sector and private sector banks have gone on strike,' said Rajen Nagar, national president of another union -- All India Bank Employees' Association.

'We are also protesting against unnecessary government intervention, which is delaying our wage settlement,' Nagar told IANS in Kolkata.

The wage revision is due from November 2007.

In Madhya Pradesh, the strike affected commercial activities in major cities such as Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur. 'Total transaction worth Rs.150,000 crore were affected,' claimed All India Bank Employees Association general secretary V.K. Sharma.

In seven northeastern states, more than 30,000 bank employees took part in the agitation.

In Karnataka, about 80,000 employees of public sector and old private banks across the state, including 25,000 in the city are on strike.