Panel formed to revise salaries of Public Sector Banks

The finance ministry has set up a committee to suggest a formula for revision in compensation of employees of public sector bank after the central bank has raised concern that low salaries could lead to attrition.

The committee will be headed by Joint Secretary Financial Services Alok Nigam and will have Bhaskar Sen, CMD United Bank of India and MV Nair CMD Union bank of India as members amongst others.

“If public sector banks are required to compete with private sector banks on a level playing field, there is a good case for compensating them too on a competitive base,” the governor of D Subbarao had said earlier this month.

The new committee will also examine the recommendations made in the Khandelwal report on Human Resource Issues in Public Sector Banks, submitted to the government in June this year.

As of now, public sector banks follow an industrywide wage settlement brokered every five-year by the , the industry body of India’s banks. “This new committee will look into the specific structure issues and how they can be made applicable across all state-owned banks,” said a senior finance ministry official.

This mandate is against the suggestions in the Khandelwal report that had suggested each bank negotiate its salary separately taking into account profitability and productivity.

The employees union of regional rural banks (RRBs) had already rejected the suggestion. Pay and allowances of regional rural bank employees are at par with the employees of the sponsor banks

The Khandelwal committee had also recommended the extension of the idea of according maharatna and navratna practiced in the case of other public sector employees to state-run banks as well. Such a status would give banks more freedom in deciding compensation. “There should be some separate allowance provided for rural stint, as financial inclusion is the top priority for both the government and the banks,” said the chairman of a state-run bank. The government may also set up a time frame for this committee given that over one lakh employees would retire from public sector banks over the next five years. 

Source - The Economic Times

Shri A.D. Nagpal, the man who uncovered "lost" EPF funds

Shri A.D.Nagpal was instrumental for increasing EPF interest to 9.5% for more than 50 million workers. The 77 years old Chandigarh man who is a trade union leader ,a practising socialist and  a close associate of Late Shri Jayprakash Narayan, ferreted out the detail that provided the EPF trust with a fiscal cushion. He unearthed the treasure of a disposable surplus of Rs.1731.57 crores and not Rs. 158 crore, as the trust  officials believed earlier.

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Second Pension option - Calculations

We are receiving requests from many individuals for calculating their pension, commutation and gap amount payable to the bank. It is impossible to calculate pension for every individual request. The pension calculators are made readily available on this site. Using these calculators an individual pension optee can easily calculate his pension, commutation and D.A.  For ready reference procedure for 2nd option calculation is given Below.
1. Calculate your pension basic using pension calculator.
    Inputs required - Last 10 months average basic, and 
    allowances  qualifying for PF, Qualifying service. 
    Click here for Pension Calculator
2. Calculate commutation amount and commutation value 
    using commutation calculator. Inputs required - Pension 
    Basic (calculated using above refered pension calculator),
    Age on the next birthday as on 01/09/2010 (the date for 
    reckoning  the age may differ according to individual bank
    The date referred in the bank circular may be taken for   
    this purpose.)
    Click here for Commutation Calculator
3. Calculate D.A on Basic Pension using D.A. calculator. 
    Inputs required - Pension Basic calculated using pension 
    calculator . D.A. depends upon date of retirement . Please 
    select proper option in D.A. calculator according to your
    date of retirement. (D.A is calculated on original basic 
    pension and not on the reduced basic pension after 
    commutation.)
    Click here for D.A. calculator
4. Calculate your monthly net pension by adding Basic,D.A  
    and reducing commuted amount from it.
    Net monthly  pension = Basic + D.A. - commuted amount.

5. Calculate the amount to be refunded to the bank
     1. Bank's Contribution to PF (along with intrerest
         paid by bank)
     2. Gap Amount - Multiply the above figure by 0.56
         (i.e 56% of bank's contri to PF with interest)
        
          By adding above figures one will get the amount 
          to be refunded to the bank.

6.  Calculate the amount to be received from the bank
       1. Commutation value calculated using commutation
           calculator (Step No. 2 above)
        2. Arrears of pension receivable - Pension is payable
            w.e.f from 27/11/2009 upto the date i.e arrears for 
           11 months and 4 days will be paid by the bank if
            the date of option is 31/10/2010. The arrears pension
            will be Full Basic pension + D.A and NOT reduced 
            basic after commutation.
            By adding above figures amount to be received from 
            the  bank can be calculated.

7.  Net payable to the bank can be arrived at by deducting
     the amount receivable from bank ( step 6 above) from 
     amount payable by bank (step 7 above). Some banks are
     allowing to set off commutation value and / or pension 
     arrears against  the amount payable to the bank and in 
     that case only net amount is  to be paid to the bank. 
     Some banks are not  allowing to set off this amount.

Pension option Circular by Dena Bank

Dena Bank has issued Pension Option Circular - Extending another option to join the Pension Scheme to those who did not opt earlier - Settlement / Joint Note dated 27.04.2010 signed with Workmen Unions / Officers Organisations
Dena Bank has allowed adjustment of commutation amount and pension arrears upto  Nov. 2010, against payment of 1.56 times banks contribution of PF to the bank by an employee wishing to opt for pension under second pension option. In case of some banks such adjustment is not allowed , though in  IBA circular it is clearly mentioned that banks may consider setting off the commutation amount payable to an employee , against the gap amount of 1.56 times of bank's contribution to PF payable to the bank at the time of availing the option.

Click Here to Download the Circular

(It may take some time to download the file - file size approx. 2MB)

Another Pension option for Officers retired under VRS scheme of individual banks

AIBOC has addressed a letter to the Chairman, Indian Banks’ Association on the above  issue, urging upon him to accord an option to those officers who retired under Voluntary Retirement Scheme of individual Banks to join the Pension Scheme now settled as per the Joint Note  dated 27.04.2010. 
Click here to view AIBOC circular