The Hindu Business Line : IFCI offers VRS benefits to officers on contract, but workers protest

Much to the unhappiness of a large segment of its employees, IFCI has decided to offer full benefits of the ongoing voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to a handful of senior management people who have been hired on contract.

According to sources in the institution, the board of directors of the institution recently ratified the proposal to extend benefits till the age of superannuation (58 years) to a select group of senior officers of the Chief General Manager (CGM) rank though most of them would be serving out their contract period much before attaining that age. The CGM-level officers who would benefit from the decision had been severing out their contract period ranging up to five years.

"There would be dual benefit for the officers since they are also being offered pension benefits along with the package under the VRS scheme," Mr Ram Khobragade, Convenor, Coordination Committee of the IFCI Officers' and Employees' Association, told Business Line. He said the ratification by the board comes despite a similar proposal being rejected earlier. Efforts to get a response on the rationale of the offer from the top management of IFCI proved futile.

The IFCI employees' main grudge against the decision to extend the largesse is that it comes even as their requests for benefits have gone unheeded. "Several demands for benefits that we have raised for our staff have not been resolved. These include a request for one more option to opt for pension, medical facilities and loans," Mr Khobragade said.

The ongoing VRS scheme, which had to be extended due to poor response to the earlier scheme, ends on May 31 The scheme was earlier supposed to close on March 31. This is the second round of VRS in the institution, with the first round having been kept open from October 15 to November 28, 2003.

With the IFCI employees staying away from the initial offer in the ongoing second round, the institutions' board has tried to improve on the earlier offer by reducing the eligibility criterion for providing pension benefits under the scheme from 20 years to 10 years of completed service for those who opt to take VRS.

The VRS is being offered as part of the ongoing process to reduce the staff numbers on the way to the merger of the ailing institution with Punjab National Bank.

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IFCI offers VRS benefits to officers on contract, but workers protest