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Tackling post-VRS `manpower problem' -- Bankers want change in promotion norms

Rajalakshmi Menon

MUMBAI, Oct. 29

PUBLIC sector banks are planning to seek relaxation in the Government guidelines on promotion policy in banks. This follows the post-VRS ``manpower problem'' being faced by several nationalised banks.

According to bankers, post-VRS, a number of nationalised banks are witnessing shortage of senior officers to manage key portfolios. Bankers said that several banks are finding it increasingly difficult to find competent and qualified people for middle an d senior management levels. Under the existing promotion norms, a person in the clerical grade takes a long time to get into the senior management level, however competent, he may be.

``There have been several bottlenecks witnessed in the promotion process recently with VRS and reduced recruitments leading to a stagnation. Added to this, in 1999, the Government raised the age of retirement from 58 to 60,'' said one senior bank officia l.

Typically, for a promotion of Scale 1 to Scale 2, a ``waiting period'' of around seven years is prescribed while the promotion period from Scale 2-3 is five years and Scale 3-4 is also five years.

Sources in banking circles say that some nationalised banks such as State Bank of India, Canara Bank and Indian Bank are weighing the option of asking the Government to reduce this ``long waiting period'' of seven years to at least six years or lesser.

So, while an average age of a clerk may be around 32-34 years, he would have to wait for seven years before a promotion into Scale 1 of junior mangers and then wait for another five years, before a promotion into the middle management thus raising the av erage age profile of employees in the bank.

The Human Resource Management committee, which had submitted its report last year, had said that along with the existing guideline of seven years, there should be an additional channel for quicker promotion to enable ``fast track promotion.''

The committee had recommended that qualified persons such as chartered accountant and CAIIBs should have an opportunity for promotions after a period of three years, through a process of examinations and interviews, so that banks could promote competent and qualified persons that they could groom as potential General Managers or Executive Directors.