The agreement also gives an opportunity to those who had not opted for the pension scheme in 1995 to join the scheme again.

“We have signed an agreement today with banks’ unions and according to the new agreement, employees and officers will get a 17.5 per cent hike in salaries with retrospective effect from November 1, 2007,” IBA Deputy Chief Executive K Unnikrishnan said.Almost eight lakh employees in 26 public sector banks, 12 private sector banks and eight foreign banks will be benefited from this new wage agreement.