On February 12, 2026, Kerala CPI-M leader AA Rahim claimed in Rajya Sabha that about 500 bank employees have died by suicide in the past decade.
Raising concern over the working conditions in various private sector banks, Rahim pointed towards work-related stress, harassment and workplace abuse as reasons why employees have taken their lives.
During the Zero Hour of the Upper House session, Rahim cited multiple instances of how employees unable to cope with mounting work pressure and “impossible targets” have died by suicide.
Rahim claimed that a Gujarat bank employee had called his superior officer before taking his life, stating, “I am not able to bear it anymore. I have lost the will to live.”
The MP went on to highlight similar incidents that occurred between 2021 and 2024. This included the suicide of a chief manager of Union Bank who hung himself and had written in his note that “staff should not be assigned impossible targets…” Rahim also spoke about the Tamil Nadu branch manager who left behind a one-year-old daughter, as well as a 38-year-old Kerala bank manager who hanged herself at the Kannur bank, writing, “I am unable to cope with the work pressure.”
Pointing at these instances, Rahim stated in the Rajya Sabha that the list was “endless” and that bank employees are “exhausted, overburdened and chronically understaffed.” He also pointed out that bank employees in public sector banks can be seen working at night.
Rahim also cited Lok Sabha data indicating that, as of June 2025, 32,567 posts were vacant in public sector banks alone. “The number of businesses and branches of public sector banks is increasing, but the number of staff is decreasing,” the MP pointed out.
In his address, Rahim added that the fundamental duty of the Indian public banking sector has “drastically changed” from facilitating financial transactions for common people and ensuring their financial security to functioning as “a market for third-party products of Indian and foreign corporates.”
The MP also criticised how bank employees are given unrealistic targets by being assigned to sell third-party products such as private insurance and mutual funds, as well as targets for government schemes like Atal Pension Yojana and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. Rahim claimed that many employees are forced to stay at the bank, even at night, unless they achieve their targets.
Calling for immediate intervention, Rahim urged to “stop the slavery in the Indian public banking sector.”
