Rewards likely for PSU bank employees

Public sector bank employees may be rewarded with out-of-turn promotions, independent incentive structure and transfer policies for their role in making the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana a success with 115 million savings accounts opened so far.

Public sector bank employees may be rewarded with out-of-turn promotions, independent incentive structure and transfer policies for their role in making the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana a success with 115 million savings accounts opened so far.

The move, which would be a part of an overall revamp of human resource (HR) policy, would help the government lenders match pace with the private sector counterparts.

However, officials may have to undertake rural postings to be eligible for promotions. “Mandatory rural and semi-urban posting is also required to be eligible for promotion to the next higher grade, and the issue of promotion should be left to the individual banks,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser, State Bank of India.

The policy revamp is also expected to reduce the large-scale poaching of government bank employees that is likely to be spurred by the Reserve Bank of India’s granting of licences to small finances and payments banks.

“With rigid HR policies, there is discontent among the employees. If the salary structure is better, an exodus from state-owned banks is likely,” said a senior bank executive on condition of anonymity.

An industry source pointed out that shortcomings in the HR polices of these banks need to be addressed in order to boost the morale of employees.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley could even make an announcement about flexibile HR policies in the forthcoming budget, according to top sources.