"Out of the 2.15 lakh employees, as many as 1.95 lakh workers of the group II, III and IV categories observed strike which was a total success", a top insurance union leader said.

Holding of country-wide rallies and demonstrations marked the strike with the All-India Insurance Employees Association asserting that the employees would unitedly carry forward the struggle even if the IRDA Bill is passed. The rally in the Capital was addressed by leaders like Gurudas Dasgupta, MP (CPI) and Jibon Roy (CPI-M).

In a separate statement, National Organisation of Insurance Workers called upon the employees of public sector insurance companies to intensify the protest against the IRDA Bill.

The discussions on IRDA Bill commenced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday and would be put to vote on Thursday. Reports from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, however, indicated a mixed response to the strike call, with a LIC spokesman stating that all probationers and a few employees attended the office in the states.

The strike at the LIC and GIC offices at Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu was total, according to general secretay of the All- India Insurance Employees Association N M Sundaram.

In Calcutta, a non-official motion urging the Centre to stop privatisation of the insurance industry and halt privatisation of the banking sector was passed by voice vote in the West Bengal Assembly on Wednesday.