The nation-wide bandh called by a united Opposition on Monday to protest against the fuel price hike caused significant loss of business in some states, but the impact differed across sectors and regions.

The transport sector bore the brunt of the strike, with public transport vehicles forced out of roads in many places, particularly in the country?s financial nerve centre Mumbai. Agencies reported that about 100 buses were damaged in Mumbai and Pune. Many long-distance passenger trains and suburban trains in Mumbai too were disrupted, but metro services in the Capital plied as usual, although it faced a token disruption for a brief while.

Supporters of the bandh targetted railway services, cutting hose pipes of some trains and squatting on railway tracks. Several long-distance and passenger trains, including New Delhi-Muzaffarpur Sampark Kranti Express were detained at different stations, East Central Railway chief public relations officer Dilip Kumar said.

Industry chambers differed on their assessment of the losses due to the suspension of economic activity. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) pegged losses at Rs 3,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said the losses could be close to Rs 13,000 crore. ?The Bharat bandh has led to significant impact on business and trade in some parts of the country…The worst-affected were daily wage earners and people dependent on small trade,? CII said, quoting its director-general Chandrajit Banerjee. Assocham said manufacturing activities were affected in several states, estimating losses at Rs 10,000 crore.

Banking operations were stalled in the Left-ruled states of West Bengal and Kerala, while attendance remained poor in Mumbai, although the bandh did not include financial institutions. Banks functioned normally in other states.

?There was no strike at banks, but banking operations were paralysed in West Bengal and Kerala,? said CH Venkatachalam, convenor, United Forum of Bank Unions. He said attendance was poor in states like Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh ruled by NDA or BJP.

Industrial activity was affected in Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat and parts of Andhra Pradesh, said Ficci, based on reaction from its regional centres. In Bangalore, most industrial areas remained closed, with most multinational and domestic IT firms officially declaring a holiday. According to reports, transportation in Mumbai and Kolkata were severely affected.

All the wholesale commodity markets, including bullion, metal, steel, plastic and chemicals, were closed in the national capital as well as in Mumbai. However, stock exchanges, forex and futures commodity markets such as MCX and NCDEX were open for regular trading. Their operations, however, were somewhat hampered due to below-normal staff presence. Supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables were hampered due to restriction in vehicle movements into wholesale markets in Delhi and Mumbai. In equity markets too, volumes were low on Monday.