“It’s like throwing the baby out with the bath water.’’ That’s how an officer of IDBI Bank, the first public sector bank to have been privatised in the country, sums up the mood among its employees.

The RBI, on March 14, categorised IDBI Bank as a private sector bank for regulatory purposes, with effect from January 21.

This was in the wake of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) acquiring 51 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital of the bank.

While LIC acquiring a stake is not new, the labelling of IDBI as a private bank came as a surprise to the lender’s 17,500 employees. The average age of the staff is 30 years, and many have 20 to 30 years of service left. “We feel cheated. If I were to join a private bank, I would have done it long back. I was one of 150 officers to get selected out of 1.5 lakh who competed for posts in a top PSB in 1999. Then moved over to IDBI Bank in 2008, which I regret now,’’ an Assistant General Manger now working in Gujarat told BusinessLine .

“It was a major move and employees should have been kept in the loop,’’ said a senior executive of the bank in Hyderabad. He joined IDBI in 2001 after leaving a lucrative job at a multinational.

The top management sent a message to staff a few days ago stating that “there was nothing to worry’’ and that the bank would “benefit” as an entity owned by LIC. There are fears among some employees about possible transfers and side lining of present staff by LIC. A few LIC officers have already been appointed in key managerial roles.

Transfers sought

Some want the option of being transferred to other public sector banks. “There is a precedent for this. When Industrial Investment Bank of India was wound up, employees were allowed to switch over to various nationalised banks, protecting their salary and service,’’ said AV Vithal Koteswara Rao, General Secretary, All-India IDBI Officers’ Association.

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