AIBOC opposes move to entrust Aadhaar enrolment job on bank officers

Bank officers have vehemently opposed the move to entrust Aadhaar enrolment job on them.

Citing acute manpower shortage in branches and consequent impact on their health and productivity, the All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) has in a letter to the Chairman, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), Governor, Reserve Bank of India and the Secretary, Department of Financial Services, categorically pointed out that the job related to Aadhaar enrolment “has nothing to do with banking business.”

D Thomas Franco, General Secretary, AIBOC, said: “As per the UIDAI guidelines, an enrolment centre should be manned by a trained supervisor and technical personnel in addition to trained operators. Any laxity in the composition of staff would be treated as violation of UIDAI guidelines. This would mean that every Aadhaar enrolment centre would require a minimum of four persons. If the enrolment work is to be handled by bank officers, banks would have to set aside a minimum of 1.20 lakh staff.”

'Diversion from core business'

At present, large number of branches are not headed by officers as per their categorisation and many branches are finding it extremely difficult to complete their routine work, more so due to introduction of cross-selling (of insurance and mutual fund products).

The focus on core banking activities such as deposit mobilisation and advances have long been lost and NPA management is a huge challenge. Entrusting officers with any work that is unrelated to core business, will only divert their attention from the core area, and this in turn will affect the future of the banks, Franco said.

The AIBOC General Secretary also hinted that the RBI has been the regulatory body for banks and to a limited extent, banks had to follow the guidelines of SEBI and IRDA. Now, by undertaking Aadhaar enrolment related works, banks would become responsible to one more regulator – UIDAI.

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