Tag: Indian Banks’ Association (IBA)

India’s bank unions agree to 17% salary hike but demand a 5-day work week

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian Banks Association (IBA) and other bank unions have reached a consensus on wage revision and agreed to an annual increase of 17% in salaries for five years starting fiscal 2021-22, according to a statement issued on December 7. The wage revision will be effective from November 1, 2022.

However, the unions have demanded that all Saturdays should be declared public holidays for banks before they sign the wage agreement.

This means a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been put in place between the IBA and United Forum of Banks, and other unions and associations for a bipartite settlement. However, the unions will only sign the final agreement when the five-day work week decision is announced.

The annual increase in salary and allowances will be at 17% of annual pay slip expenses for FY22. This would amount to about Rs 12,449 crore for all public sector banks, including State Bank of India (SBI).

As per the MoU, the new pay scales will be constructed after merging dearness allowance (DA) corresponding to 8,088 points to the basic pay as on October 21, 2022 and adding there on a loading of 3%, which would amount to Rs 1,795 crore.

The distribution of annual wage increase to the bank employees will be worked out separately and proportionately based on the break-up of establishment expenses for FY22.

The parties will meet on mutually convenient dates to draw out a detailed Bipartite Settlement or Joint Note on the various issues on which consensus positions have been reached.

It must be noted that the IBA has already recommended to the government to declare all Saturdays as holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881 for the banking industry.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Finance ministry exhorts banks to achieve targets social security schemes for FY’23

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The union finance ministry on Thursday asked banks to achieve targets given under the flagship financial inclusion and social security schemes for the current financial year.

The advisory was given to heads of public sector banks (PSBs) and financial institutions during the review meeting headed by Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi.

During the meeting, the progress of various social security (Jan Suraksha) schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri MUDRA and Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi), and Agri credit etc, were reviewed, an official statement said.

“Besides reviewing the progress under the social security schemes promoting financial inclusion, PSBs were exhorted to achieve the targets allocated to them under the schemes for 2022-23,” it said.

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It was also discussed that banks should organise financial literacy camps so that awareness about various financial inclusion schemes including micro insurance schemes, digital financial transactions including UPI Lite can be further promoted, it said.

It was appreciated that ease of access to banking services has been strengthened in the last 7-8 years and now having provided access to banking services to bottom of the pyramid, banks need to put in all-out efforts to make customer experience more enriching and pleasant for sustainable banking relationship, it said.

Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has already been requested to expedite the Consumer Service Rating for all Scheduled Commercial Banks to gauge the consumer expectation and to enable banks to raise their standards of services delivery to every segment of the customer, it said.

The amendments proposed in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) with regard to reducing the delays in the processes relating to admission, resolution, National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval and liquidation were also discussed in presence of officials from Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), it said.

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PSBs were also requested to take help of PM KISAN database with an aim to provide Kisan Credit Card (KCC) facility to all the farmers in the country, it said, adding, the progress of Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme was also reviewed.

Officials from the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare were also present in the review related to agricultural credit.

The progress in digitisation of process for getting the KCC was also discussed to improve the transparency, it said, adding that PSBs were advised to take necessary steps to digitise entire journey of KCC loans in a timebound manner.

The digitisation of the KCC-Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) was also discussed and banks were told to start using the portal for their claims from FY2021-22 onwards, it added.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bank strike deferred after AIBEA meeting with chief labour commissioner

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The country-wide bank strike that was supposed to start today morning has been deferred after the bank unions met with the Chief Labour Commissioner on Friday. Members of the All India Bank Employees Association met the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC), the Ministry of Labour, the Indian Banks Association (IBA), and the Department of Financial Services (DFS) of the Ministry of Finance, and both sides reached a consensus on contentious issues.

AIBEA members met bank officials in Mumbai on November 16, where no solution was found. Union representatives had met officials from 11 banks who they alleged were victimising union members.

“Understandings reached on all issues. IBA and banks agreed to resolve the issues bilaterally. Hence our strike is deferred,” CH Venkatachalam, General Secretary AIBEA told Moneycontrol on Friday.

“This is to inform you all that the proposed All India Bank Strike to be held tomorrow 19th November 2022, has been deferred as understanding has been reached,” according to a statement from AIBEA.

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Bank employees had threatened to go on strike protesting against issues like layoffs, outsourcing, and delays in implementing wage revisions, among others. Unions had stated that banks were acting against bipartite settlements and bank-level settlements. They had also added that banks were being vindictive by punishing bankers who were union members.

“Our Union is pleading with the bank to discuss and sort out the issue but management is refusing to discuss it with the union and thus, the jobs of our employees are hanging under Damocles’s sword. If our job security is threatened, what else we can do than fight back,” said Venkatachalam.

#AIBEA CIR 498.68 – STRIKE ON 19TH NOV. DEFERRED DUE TO POSITIVE OUTCOME IN THE CONCILIATION MEETING@ChairmanIba @DFS_India pic.twitter.com/sIqOcH4M7a

— CH VENKATACHALAM (@ChVenkatachalam) November 19, 2022

However, with concessions reached during talks yesterday, the strike has been called off. However, several bankers have been disappointed by the lack of action from the union at the last hour. Many bankers replied to Venkatachalam on Twitter expressing their ire at the lack of results.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

IBA to discuss moratorium relief for NBFCs at meeting today

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The  Indian Banks Association meet this afternoon to consider providing the moratorium relief to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), CNBC-TV18 learns from multiple sources.

Heads of several public sector banks, including State Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Central Bank of India and others, as well as private sector banks like Axis Bank, and IDFC First Bank among others will be part of today’s meeting, sources said.

The key agenda for the meeting is to discuss the measures to support NBFCs, who have been left out of the March 27 moratorium benefit announced by the Reserve Bank of India. While NBFCs are permitted to give the three-month moratorium/deferment benefit to their borrowers, they have to continue repaying their lender-banks and others.

Finance Industry Development Council or FIDC, a self-regulated body representing the NBFCs in India, wrote to Sunil Mehta, Chief Executive of the IBA, ahead of the April 18 meeting.

In the letter reviewed by CNBC-TV18, FIDC has sought that banks allow moratorium on payment of interest and principal due from those NBFC/housing finance companies between March and May, 2020, and also actively provide liquidity support under Targeted Long Term Repo Operations (TLTRO) and various schemes like term loans for on-lending to priority sectors, as has been permitted by the RBI.

CNBC-TV18 had reported on April 16 that State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, favoured supporting NBFCs through small loans of upto Rs 200 crores, rather than providing them the benefit of moratorium.

“You either trust NBFCs, or you don’t. Why give loans if you don’t trust them with moratorium, or why bother investing in their instruments when you’d rather not take any exposure to the weaker NBFCs?” the head of a large bank told CNBC-TV18.

He added that the banks need to collectively decide if they will or will not provide support to the smaller NBFCs, before they decide on the kind of support to offer via TLTRO, loans or moratorium relief.

The Reserve Bank yesterday announced a Rs 50,000 crore liquidity lifeline for NBFCs through a second round of TLTRO, with half of the total fund reserved for small and mid-sized NBFCs and microfinance institutions.

Another banking executive remarked that it was not the lack of liquidity that was stopping banks from lending to NBFCs, but their risk aversion due to the large pile up of bad loans.

Also read: What exactly is TLTRO and how is RBI helping NBFCs through it

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow