Guessing game

With reference to the editorial, ‘A matter of time’ (December 3), despite mounting pressure for a rate cut following a perceptible drop in the level of inflation and the economy stabilising, Raghuram Rajan, in his customary style has once again surprised the market and preferred not to tinker with the key policy rates. He has the knack of keeping the market guessing and undoubtedly his policy initiatives have been among the best in the recent times.

The point is to create a conducive climate where sustained recovery translates into sustained growth with credible measures emanating from all quarters. Business sentiments are improving fast. There are signs of revival all around. Going forward, one can see a rate cut early next year to add impetus to growth.

Srinivasan Umashankar

Nagpur

Rajan has played a master stroke in maintaining the status quo in the matter of repo rate at 8 per cent and cash reserve ratio (CRR) at 4 per cent. The decision would help retail borrowers pay the same EMIs for their home and car loans, which is good.

Rajan is not in a hurry to cut the interest rate unless it is brought down to a satisfactory level benefiting the massesRetaining SLR at 22 per cent will unlock banking funds, GDP growth is expected to grow at 5.5 per cent during the current fiscal, retail inflation is expected to touch 6 per cent by March end. The proposal to lower the policy rate early next year provided fiscal and inflations trends improve, is praiseworthy.

It is now for the Centre to make the early provisions for checking fiscal consolidation enabling the RBI to take more positive steps. Economic reforms need to be energised faster. The Centre also needs to boost investment activity.

Jayant Mukherjee

Kolkata

Misunderstood bank employees

This refers to the letter of December 3 targeting bank employees. Perhaps the writer has not understood the real problem. Banks employees are losing their wages for every day of their strike.

They have not asked for reduction of working hours, they only want a five-day week as in government departments and other public sector organisations. Even if their demand for 23 per cent increase in wages is conceded, their salaries will be less than that in the government sector.

Government cites the amounts written off due to non-payment by industrialists and not employees’ low productivity as the reason for not granting a wage increase. If we compare the number of employees on the rolls and the business growth we will understand to what extent banks are understaffed. Bank employees have not presented their case properly and that is why the strike has been misunderstood.

S Kalyanasundaram

Email

The call for a strike is given in a desperate situation when all other conciliatory approaches have failed. And this, after giving advance intimation to all customers.

The most important thing is that all striking employees forego their salaries for the number of days they are on strike, which does not happen in any other industry. Banking is an important sector for the country and economic growth rests largely on this industry.

Employees work in a high risk situation because they handle public money and work in an uneven playing field. The demand for 25 per cent raise, in the present economic scenario, where salaried employees are the worst affected in any given situation, is justified. Wage revision is overdue by more than two years and every time this is done deliberately to rob the employees of arrears. Strikes cannot become a right, and it should not disrupt normal public life. At the same time, unilateral, draconian and malafide intentions of managements should also be checked.

Hari Madhu

Mumbai

On the brink

The request made by leaders of the BJP to condone Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s inflammatory remarks as she hails from an impoverished Dalit background confirms her inefficiency in functioning as a minister. If Narendra Modi allows such conduct to go unchecked, his government will meet its Waterloo.

Tharcius S Fernando

Chennai

Missed the bus?

This refers to the editorial ‘A matter of time’ (December 3). It appears that Governor Raghuram Rajan has been reluctant to ease the policy rates bearing in mind the uncertainty of the disinflationary trend. Some people will think him prudent, others pessimistic. But what strikes is has he missed the opportunity to boost growth especially in the manufacturing sector?

What if he decides to relax policy rates before the Union Budget? Surely, the benefits of relaxation will not be realised if the government announces austerity measures in the Budget. The Centre is in the mood to narrow the fiscal deficit by lowering subsidies and other Plan and Non-Plan expenditure. Hence, there must be coordination between the RBI and the government.

S Lakshminarayanan

Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu

Well done, voters in J&K

It augurs well that voter turnout in Jammu & Kashmir broke previous records. On the one hand, the electorate clearly defied the boycott call given by separatist outfits and on the other braved the biting cold to exercise their franchise. This shows their determination to participate in the democratic process.

The leaders of separatist outfits are nothing but paper tigers who issue statements but on the ground, they have no sway over the people of the State. It is time separatist outfits desisted from misinformation campaigns and joined the mainstream to do good deeds rather than dance to the tunes of their handlers from countries inimical to India.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Across the counter

This is with reference to the letter, ‘Bank employees’ strike’ (December 3). It is evident the letter-writer has written seeing a bank’s outside appearance as a posh, airconditioned office. But what is the situation inside? Many of the officers are toiling inside, sitting very late, sometimes up to 10 pm. There are complaints about their poor service, but if they raise their head and talk to a customer for 5 minutes, they will be late going home. Many youngsters join banks thinking that it is a 10 to 5, worry free job, but after joining, when they come to know the real situation, they start looking for other opportunities. This, combined with low wages, is the major reason for attrition in the banking industry.

Do you know the risks involved in the work? Do you know that many officers are facing criminal charges only because they happened to handle a fraudulent account, even though they had no role in the fraud? Bank employees are not asking for the moon; they are only demanding that they be paid wages equivalent to what is being paid in any other industry. The government is denying wages to the banking sector, quoting rising NPAs. But no effective steps are being taken to recover the NPAs. The wilful defaulter is happy if the bank proceeds against him in a court of law for recovery of its dues. The borrower need not worry about repayments to the bank for the next 15 to 20 years! He can rotate the money till such time and then come to the bank for a compromise, offering to pay a part of the original amount borrowed and waiver of the interest.

Banks are under compulsion to accept such offers as they will not be able to recover any amount otherwise. If there is a good recovery mechanism in India, the income earnings of the banks will improve. This is will result in (a) payment of higher interest to depositors, (b) charging of lower interest for genuine borrowers, (c) payment of fair wages to employees, and (d) payment of higher dividend to shareholders.

Arunachalam R

Chennai

Within the framework of the labour laws of the land, there is no reason why strikes in the banking sector should be sought to be banned unless banking itself is declared an essential service. In any event, why single out the banking sector for strikes being declared illegal? By the same logic should not strikes by monopolies like government employees, railways and electricity boards be banned too? In any event, users of banking services have a variety of options now to transact through alternative channels like ATMs, internet banking, phone banking and so on.

The other accusations against the banking sector such as being overstaffed, with gossip-minded folks who look upon customers as intruders are not in good taste. At the time of writing this, PSBs have initiated the process of recruitment of thousands of clerks and junior level officers to replenish the huge numbers that have retired over the years. Surely some serious study of the manpower requirements would have been done before embarking on this exercise. The truth is, there has been a huge reduction in the manpower of PSBs over the last several years caused by retirements of the large numbers recruited during the seventies just after nationalisation.

The working conditions bank personnel encounter in single-branch remote areas are not enviable and certainly the allegation that they pass their time gossiping and driving away customers is not borne out of facts. As regards the reasonableness or otherwise of their wage demands, it is a myth that PSB staff are overpaid. That myth has been in circulation for a long time and has come to stick in the minds of the public, but when compared with the government sector and private and foreign banks, what they get is a pittance in relation to the risks and responsibilities they bear. Some top ranking executives of PSBs earn much less than junior level officers of private banks.

Subramaniam Mohan

Chennai

The writer’s critique on banking personnel as “little despots” appears to be naïve, lacks sensibility and seems absolutely ridiculous. Bankers are not shirking work to cripple the nation’s economy but rather to prevent it as the strike is clearly demarcated into various zones, each at a time. The strike is legitimate to ascertain basic rights and issues. It is illogical and baseless to sarcastically state the genuine demands of bank employees as a mere laundry list.

There is widespread disparity in the pay bills and work timings across various sectors of the economy. When the prices for various consumer goods, food products and so on are same for one and all, why not the purchasing power also be on par amongst various sectors? The salaries of bank employees are revised only once in five years, that too after lengthy discussions with the government. The last revision was done in 2007, was due in 2012 and is already overdue by two years. Unlike the IT sector with a two-day break and skyrocketing salaries, bank employees are hardly left with a day in a week for rest and recuperation. Nevertheless, bank employees are subjected to inherent financial risks, unregulated working hours and enormous stress. Most bank employees jeopardise their personal lives, Sundays and holidays to recover bad and stressed loans.

Government employees get the second Saturday off apart from the routine holidays. Bank employees work beyond the working hours and even on Sundays to offer 24x7 services to people. One should not forget that it is the bank employees who are responsible for a robust banking system in place in our country. The Pradan mantri jan Dhan Yojana is an example par excellence of successful door to door that displays the achievements of bankers. Bank employees are responsible citizens thriving for the nation even during the global meltdown which shook the entire banking sector across the globe. The government should respect the feelings and demands of bank employees and concede their demands positively.

K Nagarajan

Salem, Tamil Nadu

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