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VRS in banks

Sushmita Rao, e-mail

VRS for banks has been in the headlines of all the financial dailies recently. But the crucial issue forgotten in this hubbub is the severe shortage of staff in all branches of public sector banks in rural and semi-urban pockets. No replacements are post ed to fill in vacancies caused by retirements and death, while there has been a tremendous increase in the volume of transactions handled.

Many of these offices are manually run. The so-called unions are not willing to allow their members to get transferred to such places from urban pockets where there are surplus staff. This places a huge strain on those in such offices, and nobody seems t o be paying much attention to their plight.

Another point is that while a large number of officers might opt for the VRS, employees in the clerical and lower cadres might not do so, in view of their lower skill levels and the difficulty in securing alternative employment. This will have disastrous consequences insofar as the staff profiles of the bank branches are concerned, with a large number of employees at the lower level continuing in the banks, while at the supervisory level there is a shortage of adequately trained and skilled personnel.

This may present opportunities for unscrupulous persons to perpetrate frauds in banks. It takes years for an officer to acquire the skills and judgment required in carrying out supervisory tasks in bank offices. In this context, it is worth noting that t here have not been many fresh recruitments in most of the banks for several years, and even where recruitments have taken place, the brightest ones have not opted for a career in public sector banks.

It is unfortunate that nobody is paying much attention to these serious issues, and that the Government, in its hurry to push through the VRS, may force many of the banks into further difficulties.