This is a clear indication that the bankers' body will not be able to dismantle the three-decade-old system of the industry-wide wage pact in the banking sector by focussing only on basic and dearness allowances (DA).

"We met the various unions and have asked them to take a relook at their demands. We will hold a discussion relating to the demands under a technical committee, which will meet on October 14," IBA secretary MN Dandekar said.

The technical committee will have representatives from both the unions and IBA and will try to process the various demands at the October meeting. "The talks have gone one step further and we are hopeful that both sides will settle all differences by the end of November," Dandekar said.

The next meeting of IBA and bank unions will take place on October 29. Meanwhile, the unions have set up an internal panel, which will meet in Madras on October 8.

"We are open to ideas. We may first decide on the quantum of raise we want and then distribute it among various wage components," All India Bank Employees' Association general secretary Tarakeswar Chakraborti said. In the last wage pact, the raise was pegged at 10.5 per cent.

According to IBA, if the association accepts the unions' demand, the annual burden on the public sector banking industry will be to the tune of Rs 3,700 crore. It has told the unions to revise the demand downwards.

"We still have our own viewpoints," Dandekar said, adding that there was still scope for certain areas of the wage pact to be settled at the individual bank level.

So far, the IBA has not been able to make any headway in wage talks as the unions had refused to discuss only basic and DA at the industry level and settle the other issues at the individual bank level.

"The government is keen on avoiding any confrontation with the banking sector unions at this point. It may not be able to stick to its old stance of dismantling the system of industry-wide wage settlement giving way to bank level wage pacts," sources had said.

Nine bank unions, under the umbrella of United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), had earlier threatened to launch a one-day token strike this month protesting the IBA move. However, the strike was called off as both the IBA and the unions agreed to "start negotiations forthwith with an open mind."