PM’s call to improve work culture extends to banking sector

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fiat to Central ministries and departments to ensure “improved work culture and work environment” has been extended to all financial sector regulators, chiefs of public sector banks, financial institutions and public sector insurance companies.

In a communication issued on Monday to the above-mentioned entities, the Finance Ministry said they are required to initiate immediate action to improve work culture and work environment in all their offices, branches, premises or “any other spaces” in their organisation.

However, the ministry has given the regulators and financial intermediaries only five days to submit their ‘action taken report’ (by June 13), so that the Cabinet Secretary can be apprised of the action taken.

As part of this exercise, the ministry wants the workspace cleared and spruced up and filed/papers neatly stacked so that a positive work environment is created.

The financial sector regulators and financial intermediaries are required to identify forms that are in vogue and shorten them to one page.

They should also encourage online submission of information and eventually universalise it.

For quick turnaround in decisions, the ministry said decision-making layers should be whittled down to a maximum of four.

Calling for collaborative decision-making and frequent consultations between various verticals in an organisation, the ministry underscored that the entire organisation should work as a team, with every level being encouraged to provide inputs and value-addition.

The regulators as well as the financial intermediaries have been asked to ensure effective and timely resolution of public grievances.

In the case of financial sector regulators, the ministry wants them to identify at least 10 rules or processes and even archaic laws, which are redundant and not lead to any loss of efficiency, so that they can be repealed.

There are five financial sector regulators — Reserve Bank of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and Forward Markets Commission — in the country.

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