MUMBAI, June 18: The finance ministry is drawing up a plan to prevent the proposed indefinite strike at the State Bank of India which, if it materialises, could bring the entire payments system in the country to a grinding halt.

According to sources in New Delhi, the ministry has directed the SBI management to avert the indefinite strike, called from June 26, at any cost in view of the crisis that will overtake the economy once the 9,000-and-odd SBI branches across the country down shutters. The strike has been called to protest the suspension of three executives of the Mumbai main branch in the CRB case.

"Customers and corporate houses apart, almost all the state governments and the major public sector undertakings will be hit if the SBI officers' bodies stick to the stand of going ahead with the indefinite strike," a ministry source said. The last round of discussions which took place tonight in Calcutta failed to thrash out the differences between the management and the agitating unions.

As a warming up exercise, all the local head offices (LHO) of the 13 SBI circles will go on strike on Thursday (today) when the bank's central board will meet in Calcutta to finalise the 1996-97 accounts. Thus far the stir has been restricted to the Maharashtra and Goa .

Among others, two mega public sector undertakings -- Coal India and Indian Railways -- will not be able to clear the wages of a sizable section of their employees which may lead to industrial unrest, sources said. The countrywide strike will affect both the central and state governments' collection of taxes. "Once the stir goes national, all state governments will face an enormous payments crisis," a government official said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.