Monthly Organ of All India Bank Employees Association

web site: www.bankflag.in

VOL XXVII No. 7 July 2022 34 Pages

53rd Anniversary of Bank Nationalisation:

MAY DAY2022
19 July, 2022
Founder Editor ‑ in ‑ Chief : Late Tarakeswar Chakrabor F
Editorial Board : Kamal Bha acharyya, Rajen Nagar, C.H. Venkatachalam, Sonali Biswas
BANK FLAG 01 JULY 2022
 UFBU'S DHARNA BEFORE PARLIAMENT
AGAINST PRIVATISATION ON 21 JULY, 2022

BANK FLAG 02 JULY 2022

 EDITORIAL
Indian economy is still limping and yet to recover
from the bloody blow it received on
demonetisation followed by ill‑advised
implementation of GST. The dream of robust
economy is a day dream now. People are in pain.
It has become difficult for common men to meet
their both ends need. Unemployment is one time
high. Job losses is a regular feature. More and
Contents more people are pushed to below poverty line.
Soaring prices of essentials, gas, petrol and
Editorial 3 diesel have made the lives of common people
General Secretary's Desk 4 miserable. As against this pathetic picture the
On Bank Nationalisation coffers of the cronies of the Government are
‑ Speech delivered by Smt. Indira Gandhi in the getting fattened. But the Government true to its
Parliament on the 21st July, 1969 on
Nationalisation of Banks 5
philosophy instead of strengthening the basic
‑ Bank Nationalisation ‑ our approach
pillars of economy is on selling spree. Every inch
by Tarakeswar Chakraborti 7 of our economy is for sale. Banks, insurance are
‑ Significance of 53rd Bank Nationalisation Anniversary being privatized. Bills to amend Banking
by P. S. Sundaresan 9 Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of
Organisational News / Undertakings) Act 1970 and 1980 are on agenda
‑ UFBU's Dharna before Parliament on 21 July, of the Government. Bank Employees under the
2022 against moves of privatisation of banks 10
‑ Discussions with IBA on Residual Issues 11 banner of UFBU are on struggle.
‑ Group Medical Insurance Scheme 12
‑ Family Pension ‑ clarification from IBA 14
Without waiting for the bills to be placed in the
‑ ÙFY=+Xk =W+ PÎF¡FU=+ÞµF =W+ P&FáFF×+ ùÛFFÞF õFkfFðFa =W+νUÜF êFÛF õFk;F*ÎFXk =+U Parliament, a relentless campaign about the ill
EZÞ õFW J=+¡F]©¶FF æFƒ¶FæÜF 15 effects of the Government's policy of privatization
Recruitment 16 on national economy and its people have to be
Twitter Campaign 18
focused.
Performance of banks 20 Government has made structural changes by
News & Views on banking merging banks. Today there are only twelve
‑ SBI writes off Rs. 1.45 lakh crore bad loans of big public sector banks. In a planned manner banking
defaulters since F 14, Refuses to share names
by Yogesh Sapkale 23
which is in organised sector is being made
‑ Loan defaults rose 10‑fold in 10 years unorganized. Casualisation and
by Atul Thakur 24 contractualisation of permanent and perennial
‑ ÍFUÞW‑ÍFUÞW ;F]ÛF ùX ÞùW õFFæFa¡FPÎF=+ ‡FW∙F =W+ ÙFYk=+ ÞFñdUÜF=+ÞµF P¼æFõF
‑ ÞF¡F=]+ÛFFÞ èFÛFFa 26
nature of jobs, particularly in workmen cadre are
going on unhindered. It is time to wake up and
Banking In Parliament / 27 fight against the anti‑employee, anti‑institutional
Against Privatisation of Banks and anti people policy of the Government. Forget
‑ Privatisation : Public Sector Bank Unions to
intensify agitation ‑ not we had a role in getting the banks
by Ronak Chhabra 29 nationalised to serve better needs of the economy
AIBEA's delegation to Sri Lanka 31 and objectives.
Day long dharna by All India Cooperative Bank Employees Fight we must at the bank level and also at the
Federation 31
industry level.
BPBEA's struggle against Sonali bank management 32
AIBEA sends ‑ relief to Assam flood victims 33
Time is running out.

BANK FLAG 03 JULY 2022

 GENERAL SECRETARY’S DESK

Vultures are hungry

The Parliament session is now on. As of now it appears that the Bank Privatisation
Bill may not come in this session. But you can never say what the Government
would do. Hence, we should be on the guard. Rightly UFBU declared after the
recent Dharna before Parliament on the 21st July, 2022 that if the Government
would bring the Bill during this Session, UFBU would give the call for strike actions.
This means that our Unions and members should be in readiness for actions at short
notice.
But two weeks ago, Poonam Gupta, Director General of NCAER and a member of
the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Arvind Panagaria,
formerly from NITI Aayog have submitted a report suggesting that all the public
sector Banks in India should be privatised. The Report talks of the efficiency of
private sector Banks and hence has recommended that instead of privatizing two
PSBS, all the Banks are to sold to private hands including State Bank of India.
Obviously it is doctored and tutored. And, anyone can guess who are all behind this
vindictive recommendation. The Report has deliberately blacked out the
phenomenal contribution of public sector Banks in the last five decades. The
authors of the Report have also tried to put under carpet the series of collapse of
private sector Banks and their ultimate take over by the public sector banks.
Do they not know that public sector banks have our own social obligations while
private banks have only objective – to make profit, somehow or other? Can anyone
really compare PSBs and private Banks? Both travel on different tracks. But one
thing is known to all of us that many private Banks have collapsed due to the
financial mismanagement by the owners of these private banks.
May be their memory is short. But can it be so short not to remember the recent YES
Bank debacle? Why RBI clamped moratorium on YES Bank, was it without any
reason? Do these authors not know that it was only due to mismanagement of the
Bank? And, the world knows that SBI had to come in with their liberal help to bail out
the Bank. They know everything. But after all, they are just His Masters Voice.

C.H. Venkatachalam

BANK FLAG 04 JULY 2022

 ON BANK NATIONALISATION
Speech delivered by Smt. Indira
Gandhi in the Parliament on the
21st July, 1969 on Nationalisation
of Banks
THE PRIME MINISTER, MINISTER OF
ATOMIC ENERGY, MINISTER OF
PLANNING AND MINISTER OF
FINANCE (SHRIMATI INDIRA GANDHI):
Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, an Ordinance was
promulgated the day‑before‑yesterday, nationalising
fourteen of the major commercial banks
incorporated in India. With your permission, I should
like to share with the House the considerations which
weighed with Government in taking this momentous
decision and the spirit in which they propose to
implement it.
Nearly fifteen years ago, Parliament approved that
we should set before ourselves the goal of a socialist
pattern of society. Since then, Government have
taken several measures towards the achievement of
this goal. Public ownership and the control of the
commanding heights of national economy and of its
strategic sectors, are essential and important
aspects of the new social order which we are trying to
build in the country. We regard this as particularly
necessary in a poor country which seeks to achieve
speedy economic progress, consistent with social
justice, in a democratic political system – one which
is free from the domination of a few, and in which
opportunities are open to all.
Financial institutions are among the most important
levers that any society has at its command, for the
achievement of its social and economic objectives. It
is in recognition of this fact that we nationalised life
insurance business and the then Imperial Bank of
India over a decade ago. Since then, we have also
set up in the public sector, other institutions for the
provision of medium or long‑term finance to industry
and agriculture. The nationalisation of major banks is
a significant step in this process of public control over
the principal institutions for the mobilisation of
people's savings and canalizing them towards
productive purposes.
After the serious difficulties which we have had to
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encounter in recent years, our economy is once
again poised for fresh growth and development.
There has been a notable breakthrough on the
agricultural front, technologically and otherwise. The
increase in our exports has been impressive. There
has been substantial progress in power supply and
the development of transport, as also the availability
of trained manpower. Our industrial base has been
strengthened and diversified. It is in this context that
we launched the Fourth Plan earlier this year with
confidence and determination.
The question which has been engaging our attention
for some time is how best to impart an element of
dynamism and new vigour into the process of our
development so that the targets of the Fourth Plan, in
the public and private sectors, cannot only be fulfilled
but if possible, exceeded. Our major concern has
been to accelerate the tempo of investment and
production, so as to improve living standards and
increase employment opportunities, consistent with
our determination to achieve self‑reliance. It is
necessary to mobilise the saving of the people to the
largest possible extent, and to utilise them for
productive purposes in accordance with our plans
and priorities. Government believe that public
ownership of the major banks, for which there has
been widespread public support, will help in the most
effective mobilisation and deployment of national
resources, so that our objectives can be realised with
a greater degree of assurance.
The ordinance promulgated by Government
provides for the nationalisation of all scheduled
banks, incorporated in India, which had minimum
deposits of not less than Rs. 50 crores at the end of
June last. The fourteen banks in this category,
together with the State Bank of India and its
subsidiaries which already operate under public
ownership, account for more than 85% of bank
deposits in this country. The House will appreciate
that in view of the very nature of the measure, and
also to forestall any possibility of manipulations
which may not be in the public interest, it was
essential to make a swift and sudden move which
could only be achieved through an ordinance. The
fact that speculation about Government's intentions
had assumed an acute phase in the last few days
rendered it all the more necessary to act without any
further loss of time, and in anticipation of the
approval of Parliament, which will be sought through
a Bill which Government propose to bring during the
05 JULY 2022
current session.
So far as foreign banks are concerned, they provide,
by and large, business of a specialised nature such
as facilitating foreign trade and tourism. The
operation of banks of one country in another, subject
to the laws of the land, is mainly for such purposes
and is part of an international facility. Our Indian
banks also maintain their branches in many
countries. It has been Government's general policy
to confine the opening of new branches of foreign
banks to major port towns, where their specialised
services are needed. Having regard to all these
factors, Government have decided to exclude
branches of foreign banks incorporated outside India
from the purview of the Ordinance.
As I stated the other day, this is not the beginning of a
new era of nationalisation. Whatever the pattern of
the economy, it is widely recognised that the
operations of the banking system should be informed
by a larger social purpose, and should be subject to
close public regulation. Government have come to
the conclusion that the desired regulation and rate of
progress consistent with the urgency of our problems
could be secured only through nationalisation.
I should like to reiterate my assurance that even after
nationalisation, the legitimate credit needs of private
industry and trade, big or small, will be met. Indeed, it
shall be our endeavour to ensure that the needs of
productive sectors of the economy, and in particular
those of farmers, small‑scale industrialists and self‑
employed professional group are met in an
increasing measure. It will be one of the positive
objectives of nationalised banks to actively foster the
growth of new and progressive entrepreneurs, and to
create fresh opportunities for hitherto neglected and
backward areas in different parts of the country. The
banks will now be better placed to serve the farmer
and to promote agricultural production and rural
development generally. Public ownership will also
help to curb the use of bank credit for speculative and
other unproductive purpose. By severing the link
between the major banks and the bigger industrial
groups which have so far controlled them,
government believe that the step they have taken will
also bring about the right atmosphere for the
development of adequate professional management
in the banking field. Government attach the utmost
importance to modern managerial techniques and
practices.
The moneys which depositors entrust to the banks
are in the nature of a sacred trust. The interests of the
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depositors of the banks which have been
nationalised, will not only continue to be fully
safeguarded but will now have the backing of the
State itself. I should also make it clear that the
emphasis on priority areas, new entrepreneurs and
relatively backward areas, will not be at the expense
of considerations of economic viability. Only thus can
we fulfill our obligations to those who have entrusted
their savings to us for the benefit of the community.
But economic viability can still admit of much greater
resourcefulness in lending to priority areas than has
been the case so far. The general public already has
the experience of the State Bank to show how public
purpose and security, as well as good return to
depositors, can be combined.
The Ordinance has also provided for the adequate
protection of the interests of employees of the banks
concerned. They have now become employees of a
publicly owned and socially responsible banking
system. This also places on them special
responsibility towards the community. The success
of the programme of nationalisation will, in a large
measure, depend upon the efficiency, the devotion
and the dedication with which they perform their daily
tasks, and the courtesy and consideration with which
they treat the constituents of the bank. I hope that all
individual employees of these banks and their
associations will now help in the successful
implementation of the step which has been taken.
The Ordinance provides for a scheme of fair
compensation for the take‑over in accordance with a
formula which Parliament approved recently, while
enacting the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 1968.
The Ordinance provides that compensation will be
payable in the form of Government securities.
In order to cause the least possible dislocation in the
working of the banks covered by the Ordinance, and
to avoid inconvenience to the public, it is proposed,
for the present, to retain the identity of each bank in
the form of a new corporation. The Chief Executive of
each bank is now the custodian of the unit concerned
on behalf of the Central Government, and will be
subject to its control and direction. The old Board of
Directors in each case stands dissolved, and the
Ordinance vests the Government with the power to
set up Advisory Boards in their place. These are
interim measures. Changes in the structure of
management may also be necessary; these will be
undertaken after the most careful consideration. The
Ordinance provides for such changes to be made.
06 JULY 2022
As in other matters of policy, Government have been
guided in taking the present decision entirely by
national interests, and the needs and aspirations of
our people. The establishment of a socialist society
is one of our declared goals, but we have not been
guided by any doctrinaire considerations. Our sole
concern has been to accelerate development and
thus make a significant impact on the problems of
poverty and unemployment, and to bring about
progressive reduction of disparities between the rich
and the poor sections of our people, and between the
relatively advanced and backward areas of our
country.
I realise that the test of the decision is in its effective
implementation. Government are determined to take
all possible step to make their measure a success.
I should like to take this opportunity, Sir, to appeal to
all sections of this House to extend their valuable
cooperation in the purposeful implementation of this
important measure.
Bank Nationalization – our
approach
Tarakeswar Chakraborti
Former General Secretary, AIBEA
This is the month of July – one of the twelve
months of the calendar. It comes and goes every
year. In this month 19th is just one of the thirty‑one
days. But to us, working in the banks, for banking
system for our country's economic and political
systems – this day – nineteenth July – has an extra
ordinary significance.
It was on this day in the year 1969, a great
event, which took the country by surprise and
the industrial houses by shock, took place,
thanks to the then Prime Minister Smt.Indira
Gandhi when in the afternoon of this fateful
day by an Ordinance 14 major private Indian
banks were nationalized and by another
administrative order Shri Morarji Desai the
then Finance Minister in her cabinet, was
removed from the Finance portfolio leading to
his exit from the cabinet.
BANK FLAG
This act of Bank Nationalization was preceded by
dramatic events in the AICC session at Bangalore,
four days earlier, in the famous Glasshouse where
the Congress Party got split over the issue of
choosing presidential candidate. Smt.Indira
Gandhi declared the famous Labor leader Shri V.V.
Giri as her candidate for Presidentship as against
the party's official candidate Shri Neelam
Sanjeeva Reddy. While this was the overt issue,
the real one was Bank Nationalization, which
Nijalingappa, Atulya Ghosh, Morarji Desai & their
ilk – collectively came to be known as SYNDICATE
– opposed tooth and nail. In addition, when the
Congress Party was in session in Bangalore, a
three thousand strong morcha of bank men under
the banner of Karnataka Pradesh Bank
Employees' Federation – the state body of AIBEA
– staged a powerful demonstration at Lalbagh
Gardens demanding immediate nationalization of
banks.
With the promulgation of Nationalization
Ordinance, a demand of AIBEA, adopted at its
Trivandrum Congress in 1964 under the
leadership of Com.Prabhat Kar and Com.Parvana
found its realization and fulfillment. With this
national demand for furtherance of national
interests and national development AIBEA had
gone to the streets. While our leader Com.
Prabhat Kar fought for it as an MP inside the
parliament, outside we the bank men came in
the streets in its support for mobilization of
public opinion.
No wonder, the Bank Nationalization had an
electrifying effect on the people of the country who
welcomed it with wild jubilation. Bank employees
of the country hailed this historic event with
processions, rallies, sweet distribution in every city
and station from metros to remotest of villages.
No other event, ever since independence, has a
greater impact on o u r c o u n t r y ' s s o c i o ‑
economic political life. The ruling party – the
Congress – got vertically split. And the party split
came to the full circle when Shri V.V.Giri was
elected as the President of India in a close contest
defeating Shri N Sanjeeva Reddy, the official
Congress candidate.
The camp of the industrial houses – Tatas, Birlas
and their cohorts – became wild with anger and
07 JULY 2022
rage threatening vengeance of the worst order.
They challenged the Ordinance in the Supreme
Court on various grounds, the foremost being
inadequate compensation. Tata's Central Bank's
one Director Shri R.C.Cooper filed the case and it
was argued by eminent advocate Nani
Palkiwallah. After a month's hearing, the Supreme
Court struck down the Ordinance on 10.02.1970
on the ground that compensation given to the
shareholders of private banks was inadequate.
The judgement was unexpected and
unprecedented. AIBEA Office‑bearers
immediately met in an emergent meeting on the
same day. There was a risk of private owners of
banks to making attempts for taking possession of
the banks following the Supreme Court
judgement, unhesitatingly AIBEA sent instructions
to all the state Organizations asking them to guard
the Head Offices of the concerned banks and not
to allow, come what may, the previous owners to
take possession of the banks even if it leads to
physical confrontation. Simultaneously, AIBEA
gave a call for nationwide strike on 13th
February for renationalization of the banks.
In no bank, the previous owners made any attempt
in the face of AIBEA's firm stand to come to the
banks and take their possession. Our leaders and
volunteers stood guard round the clock, and on
13th the country witnessed a new spectacle when
defying the Supreme Court Judgement within 48
hours, a nation‑wide strike took place paralyzing
the entire banking system of the country and the
same night another Ordinance was issued
renationalizing the banks taking necessary steps
in the light of Supreme Court Judgement. My dear
readers, this is first and according to my
information the last when in the face of a
Supreme Court Judgement and in defiance,
there of a strike took place. With this
renationalization, there was jubilation once
again throughout the country.
Today when after 33 years of Bank Nationalization
one looks back one has to take stock of the total
situation. Much water has flown down in the Ganga
and Godavari during the last 3 decades and more.
It is also necessary to point out here that when the
Bank nationalization Bill came up in the Parliament
for adoption there was almost all‑out support there
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to from all quarters excepting 2 political parties viz.
the then Swatantra Party and the then Jana
Sangha. Swatantra Party is no longer alive and
Jana Sangha has reappeared in its new avatar i.e.
Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP). The person who
was the most virulent critic of Bank Nationalization
in the Parliament and who with his skills of oratory
made no secret of his love for the big tycoons was
none else than Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the present
Prime Minister of our country.
Today, the same Prime Minister and his
Government are bent upon privatizing the banks.
The process stated in 1991 when at the behest of
the Congress Government headed by Shri
P.V.Narashima Rao, the so‑called are of reforms
was introduced in our country and in the face of
resolute opposition of the bank employees
movement of the country, punctuated by a few
strikes, campaign and agitation a Bill was passed
on 12th of May 1995 reducing the Government
holding in nationalized banks from 100% to “not
less than 51%”.
The BJP Government has also introduced a Bill in
the Parliament limiting the Government holding to
33% as against existing “not less than51%”, in
terms of Narasimham Committee‑II Report,
doctored and dictated by the infamous World Bank
and IMF prescriptions. This Bill was introduced on
12th of December 2000in the face of very stiff
opposition from all political parties – the Congress,
the Left, the Swamajwadi Party, AIADMK and quite
a few constituents of NDA e.g. Shiv Sena. Bank
employee's movement under the banner of UFBU
had forewarned the Government by an earlier
strike on 15th of November and responded to
Government's bill by observing another national
strike on 21st of December 2000. The bill has since
been pending with the Standing Committee of
Finance and not again brought back to the
Parliament for its enactment.
But the danger looms large. This
undependable Government who are on a
privatization spree and selling all different
public sector undertaking‑ profit making or
otherwise‑ any moment may try to get the Bill
passed in the Parliament. This requires
unfailing vigilance on our part as well as to
keep ourselves in a state of preparedness to
08 JULY 2022
plunge into action at moment's notice to defeat
any such pernicious move.
Friends, 19th July 2002 is quite different from and
opposite to 19th July 1969. In the last 33 years
public sector banks have played a memorable
role, unrivalled in the world in a country's economy
as in India. From a mere deposit base of Rs.4262
crores, it has gone up more than 12 lacs crores of
rupees. The Branch network of 8260 has
exceeded 64,000 with more than 70% of them
being in the countryside. In 1969 in total bank
credit was much less than Rs.4000 crores. Today
the credit portfolio stands at more than 5 lac crores
of Rupees. As against 2 lacs employees in the
commercial banking sector in 1969, today it is
more than 10 lacs including those of RRBs,
excluding Co‑operative banks. With all its
limitations, inadequacies, constraints, the
bureaucratized banking system has played an
enviable role in the last 33 years in all fields of
country's economy. If today India is self‑sufficient
in food the sole, credit must go to nationalized
banks.
The Government today wants to hand over this
nationalize banking system to the very same
private sector who were the owners of the banks
prior to 1969 and who after nationalization today
have cornered more than 70% of the total bad
loans of the banks euphemistically called NPA
aggregating more than 1,50,000 crores including
overdue interest thereon. In the last 16‑ 17 years
about 20 private banks have failed. Still our
Government wants to privatize the banks.
Against this anti‑national proposition of the
Government and their supporters in private sector‑
foreign and domestic‑ the answer and the pledge
of the bank employees movement is, come what
may, regardless of cost and consequences we
shall resist and desist the privatization move.
Nationalized banks deal with nation's savings and
resources. National resources must be in the
custody of the nation and these resources must be
utilized for national development.
On this day that is the pledge which each one
of us has to take.
BANK FLAG
SIGNIFICANCE OF 53RD BANK
NATIONALISATION
ANNIVERSARY
P. S. Sundaresan
Former Vice President AIBEA
For 52 years since 1969, Bank employees, holding
the banner of AIBEA , have been celebrating the
Anniversary of Bank Nationalisation with great joy
on 19th July.
But this time when we celebrate on 19th July,(today)
we are surcharged with anger. We see in the sky, the
dark clouds gathering, in the Horizon, spelling the
doom of denationalisation of our Industry, by the
very rulers to whom we, the people gave the power
to rule.
The people who are the owners of Nationalised
Banks, are realising that the very people to whom
they voted, are dismantling the very edifice, that
gave prosperity to them, liberated them from the
usurious private money lenders, ensured millions of
small businessmen and street vendors a better life
and gave job opportunities to lacs of unemployed.
It is thus, a peoples issue and task to fight against
the proposed moves by the Government to
denationalise our Banks. AIBEA comrades, should
go to the people, to the beneficiaries of Bank
Nationalisation and educate them. We should make
our struggle a Mass Movement. We should organise
a Massive March of the masses, demanding that the
Government should give up their plans to privatise
Public Sector Banks.
We can do it. Denationalisation of Banks will have
devastating effect on the sovereign economic status
of our Nation. Our battle is almosta Second
Liberation Struggle. That is why the ordinary people
at large, should be mobilised.
On this day, let us pledge, to make our campaign, “A
People's mighty movement of Protest”.
We shall succeed and push back the most anti‑
people measure, now being planned and proposed
to be pushed through in the current Parliament
Session.
Organise, Educate and mobilise the ordinary
people.
09 JULY 2022
 ORGANISATIONAL NEWS /

UFBU's DHARNA BEFORE 19. Com. O P Sharma, INBEF

PARLIAMENT ON 21 JULY, 2022 20. Com. Pradip Gupta, INBOC
21. Com. Manmohan Gupta, BNOW
AGAINST MOVES OF
PRIVATISATION OF BANKS 22. Com. Satish Shetty, NOBO
23. Com. C H Venkatachalam, Gen. Secretary,
AIBEA
UFBU Circular No. 11:
Many other trade union leaders and Members of
As already announced and scheduled, we had Parliament from Congress, DMK, RJD, AAP, TRS,
organised our Dharna before Parliament on 21 CPI‑M, etc. had agreed to come and greet our
July, 2022 in Delhi. Our Dharna was held near participants but could not come as they were held
Jantar Mantar, near Parliament Street. Nearly 700 up in Parliament and other programmes.
members from all our 9 constituent unions However, they conveyed their support and
participated in the programme and made it an solidarity with our struggles and demands.
impressive success.
The Central Trade Union leaders and Members of
Parliament and other leaders who spoke on the
Our Dharna was addressed by the following: occasion stressed the importance of unity of bank
employees and united actions to resist the present
1. Com. Girish Chandra Arya, BMS attacks and offensives of the Government. They
2. Com. Deepak Sharma, INTUC applauded the united struggles of the UFBU and
exhorted us to further strengthen the unity and
3. Com. Amarjeet Kaur, AITUC
united struggles.
4. Com. Tapan Sen, ex MP and CITU
At the end, the participants in the Dharna
5. Com. Rajiv Dimri, AICCTU adopted a Declaration that if the Government
6. Com. R K Sharma, AIUTUC would take any measures to introduce the
Bank Privatisation Bill during the current
7. Com. Amaresh, TUCC, Session of the Parliament, the UFBU would
8. Com. Arvind Sawant, MP, Shiv Sena/BKS immediately give the call for protest
programmes and strike actions.
9. Com. Anil Desai, MP, Shiv Sena/BKSM
Another Declaration was adopted conveying
10. Com. D Raja, ex MP, CPI the strong protest of UFBU against the
11. Com. Binoy Viswam, MP, CPI dictated, vindictive recommendations of the
Report by Arvind Panagaria (formerly of NIITI
12. Com. N K Premachandran, MP, RSP/UTUC
Aayog) and Poonam Gupta of NCAER
13. Com. Ravikumar, MP, VCK suggesting wholesale privatisation of Banks
14. Com. Rajen Nagar, President, AIBEA and demanding the rejection of the Report.

15. Com. Murali Sundararajan, President, AIBOC
16. Com. S.C. Balaji, President, NCBE
17. Com. Sanjay Kumar Khan, Secretary, AIBOA
18. Com. Debashish Basu, General Secretary,
BEFI
Thus, our Dharna programme was an impressive
success. UFBU‑Delhi had made good
arrangements for the successful conduct of our
Dharna programme. We thank all the constituent
unions and all the participants for their active
participation in the programme.

BANK FLAG 10 JULY 2022

 Discussions with IBA on
Residual Issues
UFBU CIRCULAR NO. 7 dt. 2‑7‑2022 : “Our
Unions and members are aware that in the
background of delay in discussing the residual and
pending issues, UFBU had given the call for strike
on 27th June, 2022. In the conciliation meeting
held before the Chief Labour Commissioner at
Delhi on 23‑06‑2022, IBA had agreed to
commence the negotiations on the residual issues
and demands raised in the strike notice and hence
the strike call for deferred.
Accordingly, a round of discussion took place
yesterday i.e. 1‑7‑2022 at IBA office in Mumbai.
Shri. M.V. Rao (MD‑CEO of Central Bank of India),
Chairman of the IBA's Negotiating Committee
represented IBA along with Shri Shanti Lal Jain
(MD‑CEO, Indian Bank), Shri. Joydeep Dutta
Roy(ED, Bank of Baroda), Shri Debashish
Mukherjee (ED, Canara Bank), Shri. Lal Singh
(CGM‑HR, Union Bank of India), Shri Ashok
Kumar Pathak (CGM‑HR, Bank of India), Shri. S K
Rana (CGM‑HR, PNB), Shri. Manish Kumar, (GM‑
HR, UCO Bank) and Shri. Md. Ayazuddin (DGM‑
IR, SBI). From UFBU, representatives of 8 Unions
were present.
The following issues were taken up for
discussion during the meeting:
Five Day Banking : We explained and reiterated
our demand for introduction of 5 day banking i.e.
declaring all Saturdays and Sundays as Bank
holidays. The impact of this introduction on cash
transaction hours, banking hours and total working
hours were discussed. After deliberations, IBA
opined and felt that further justifications should be
built up on the issue so that IBA can escalate the
issue to the higher authorities and various stake‑
holders. The issue will be discussed further.
Updation of Pension: IBA explained that
updation of pension involves additional cost of
funding and pay out and hence the cost aspect
needs to be kept in mind while discussing the
issue. IBA also pointed out that already, every
year, all the Banks are making additional
BANK FLAG
provisions to meet the shortfall in the pension fund
of each Bank. After a lot of discussions, it has
been suggested that to begin with the Ex‑Gratia
Pension to pre‑1986 retirees/spouses can be
addressed on a priority and improvement in the
pension of retirees between 1‑1‑1986 and 31‑10‑
2002 to be taken up. Thereafter the improvement
in pension for retirees after 1‑11‑2002 may be
taken up so that the additional cost can be spread
out. The issue of updating the pension at the
uniform index of 6352 point was also discussed in
the matter and IBA wanted some more working to
be done before any decision can be taken in this
regard. Discussions on these issues will be further
continued.
Improvement in Pension Scheme:
Improvement in the Scheme like incorporating a
clause in the Pension Regulation to provide for
periodical updation of pension along with wage
revision of in‑service employees/officers, full
pension at 50% of Pay to be given on retirement
after 20 years instead of present 33 years,
calculation of pension based on average of last 10
months or last month's Pay whichever his
advantageous to the retiree, etc. were taken up
and these issues need to be further followed up as
the same required approval for the Government.
Change in DA Scheme – shifting of base year to
2016=100: Since the Government is publishing
only the Consumer Price Index based on
2016=100 Series, we suggested that our DA
scheme can be accordingly modified. IBA
informed that this issue can be further worked out
and taken up in the next wage revision process.
Allocation to Staff Welfare Fund : We reiterated
our demand that the allocation to Staff Welfare
Fund be made based on Operating Profits of
Banks in lieu of Net Profit as is at present. IBA
informed that the issue has already been taken up
with the Government and would be further
followed up.
Increase in Conveyance Allowance for
Employees with Disabilities : IBA had earlier
agreed that the allowance would be increased
from Rs. 400 pm to Rs. 600 pm subject to approval
of the Government. During the discussions, IBA
11 JULY 2022
informed that the matter has already been taken
up with the Government and the same is being
followed up.
Special Allowance to be paid in North
East/Sikkim, J&K, Himachal Pradesh as is paid
to Government employees, etc. : We pointed
out that the issue is pending for a long time and
should be resolved expeditiously. IBA informed
that the matter requires necessary approval from
the Government and the cost implications are also
to be properly examined.
Clarification of Fitment of Ex‑servicemen
employees : In terms of Clause 4© of 11th BPS,
the fitment under 10th BPS already given to Ex‑
servicemen employees who joined the Banks
between 1‑11‑2017 and 11‑11‑2020 should be
protected and clarification should be given the
Banks by IBA as many Banks are not
implementing this provision and resulting in huge
recovery for the concerned employees. IBA
agreed to examine this issue in their internal
Committee and take the decision.
Reply to clarifications sought by Banks: We
pointed out that various Banks have referred
certain issues to the IBA seeking clarifications on
implementation of wage revision settlement/Joint
Note and the same is pending at IBA level.
I m p o r t a n t l y, c l a r i fi c a ti o n s o n s ta g n a ti o n
increments are to be given without delay. IBA
informed that an FAQ guideline would be issued at
the earliest.
Improvement in Medical Insurance Scheme
and reduction in premium for retirees: IBA
requested UFBU to submit our views on these
issues so that the same may be taken up while
finalising the renewal of the Policy for the next
year. We suggested that the Scheme for Retirees
should include a minimum basic Policy for which
the premium is to be borne by the Banks and the
additional sum assured may be made optional.
Uniform Banking/Business Hours in
Branches: We suggested that IBA should give its
guidelines to all Banks and SLBCs suggesting a
uniform number of hours of cash transaction
hours, business hours within the total working
hours. IBA agreed to examine this and issue
BANK FLAG
necessary advisory to the Banks.
Exemption of retirement benefits from Income
Tax: We took up the issue of exemption of
retirement benefits, particularly Gratuity, Leave
Encashment, additional 4 % contribution to NPS,
etc. from the purview of Income Tax. IBA agreed to
study the matter and take up with Government.
Uniform Guidelines on implementation of PLI :
We pointed out that different Banks are adopting
differing practices while implementing PLI scheme
regarding pro‑rata eligibility for employees who
have newly joined or retired during the financial
year. IBA agreed that suitable clarification will be
sent the Banks.
Pending issues of officers Organisations: All
the issues listed by the Officers Organisations like
clarifications on LFC, interpretation of stagnation
increment, improvement of expenses on road
travel, Grid Holidays, mandatory leave/vacation
policy, medical leave, introduction of Child Care
leave, Pension option to resignees, double
jeopardy on opt‑out/refusal for promotions, etc.
were taken up and IBA informed that these issues
will be further discussed.
It was decided to continue the discussions with an
objective to take all the issues to a logical
conclusion within a specified time period and the
date for the next round of meeting will be decided
shortly.
Group Medical Insurance
Scheme
[Besides unions' efforts to mitigate the various
problems and difficulties being faced by employees with
managements, TPAs, Insurance Company, etc. under
the Group Medical Insurance Scheme, one of our
important demands has been to secure reduction in the
premium on the Insurance Policy for the retirees.
Hence the issue was taken up by UFBU with the IBA and
IBA wanted our suggestions in this regard.
Accordingly, UFBU has sent its suggestions to IBA vide
its letter dated 7‑7‑2022. We reproduce hereunder the
UFBU's letter to IBA for the information of our Units.]
This has reference to the discussions we had with
IBA on 8th June, 2022 regarding the ways and
means to bring down the rate of premium on the
12 JULY 2022
Group Medical Insurance Policy, particularly with
reference to the Policy applicable to the retirees.
This is very important and urgent because the
premium has been going up steeply year after year
as under:
In view of the above, we need to revisit some of the
ingredients of the scheme with a view to reduce the
premium which is affordable to the retirees.
Keeping this in view and as discussed and
explained in the meeting on 8th June, 2022, we
submit the following for the consideration of IBA in
order to suitably amend our 10th BP Settlement
/7th Joint Note of 25‑5‑2015.
1. T h e e x i s t i n g u n i f o r m r a t e o f b e d
charges/room rent per day at Rs. 5000
uniformly applicable all over the country may
be revised and re‑fixed in a graded manner
according to the areas like, metro, urban, semi‑
urban, etc. or based on population bracket of
the centres.
2. For certain specific treatments, some
ceiling or cap may be worked out, if found
necessary.
3. The Basic policy can be designed to cover
all treatments of normal diseases, surgical
treatments but exclude very major and
complicated surgical treatments like kidney
transplantation, major heart/brain surgeries,
BANK FLAG
etc.
4. T h e s e c o m p l i c a t e d s u r g e r i e s a n d
otherwise uncommon treatments in the normal
course may be made optional at the choice of
the insured and at additional premium.
5. T h e p o l i c y r e l a t i n g t o i n ‑ s e r v i c e
employees and retirees can be clubbed
together as a single composite Policy with
Part I for in‑service employees and Part II for
retirees.
6. While Part I of the Policy will be applicable
to in‑service employees and officers, Part II of
the Policy to be made applicable to retirees.
7. Part I of the Policy can cover insured
amount as per existing Settlement and for Part
II applicable to retirees, a separate graded and
minimum basic sum assured can be mutually
worked out.
8. The premium on this composite and
combined Policy to be paid by the respective
Banks. As per Government guidelines to
Banks F. No. 12/6/32/2006‑IR dated 7‑2‑2007
and IBA communication to Banks No.
PD/76/674/ 2006‑07/1330 dated 28‑2‑2007,
Banks were advised to allocate a portion of the
Staff Welfare Fund towards welfare of retirees.
Hence Banks would not find it difficult to pay
the premium of the Policy upto the Basic sum
assured.
9. Over and above this, other flexible and
additional cover may be offered by the
Insurance Companies on an optional basis, for
which the retirees would bear the cost of such
additional premium.
10. Since medical expenses are not directly
related to consumption of goods and services
by the insured, Government to be approached
for exemption of GST on the premium.
We will collate the various roadblocks and pain
points experienced by employees/officers at
present at the hospitals and issues with TPA and
insurance Company for your information.
Simultaneously, our suggestions on improvement
in the scheme etc. will be sent separately.
13 JULY 2022
 Family Pension – Clarification
from IBA
No change in Minimum Family
Pension
As agreed in the 11th BP Settlement, IBA took up
the matter with the Government and Government
also gave its approval for removal of ceiling on
Family pension and Family Pension to be paid at
the uniform rate of 30% without any ceiling.
Accordingly, Family Pension was revised and
enhanced w.e.f. 1‑4‑2021.
However, some of the Banks had referred the
matter to IBA as to whether the existing minimum
pension prescribed earlier would remain or not.
We had taken up the matter with IBA to issue a
clarification to the Banks confirming that only the
rate of family pension has been made uniform at
30% (instead of earlier 15%, 20% and 30%) and
the upper ceiling on the amount of family pension
has been removed and that the minimum pension
amount already prescribed should be continued as
otherwise, some of the family pensioners would
get reduced family pension.
We are now informed that IBA has issued their
clarification to the Banks on 30‑6‑2022 as under:
IBA ‑ HR&IR/MBR/XI BPS/11324 dated June 30,
2022
Chief Executives of member Banks which are
parties to the Joint Note/Bipartite Settlement
signed on 11th November, 2020
Dear Sir/Madam,
11th Bipartite Settlement and Joint Note dated
11.11.2020 on Wage Revision – Enhancement in
Family Pension and employer`s contribution under
NPS.
Please refer to our letter HR&IR / MBR / XIBPS /
10409 dated 11.10.2021, wherein we had
BANK FLAG
conveyed Govt. of India's no objection to all Public
Sector Banks vide its letter F. No. 1/1/2019‑ IR
dated 25th August, 2021 on the undermentioned
issues:‑
i. Pay family pension at a uniform rate of 30% of
pay of the deceased employee, without any ceiling
on family pension, effective from 1.4.2021
ii. Enhance the rate of employers` contribution
under the National Pension System (NPS) from
the existing 10% of pay plus dearness allowance
to 14 % thereof in respect of employees covered
under NPS, effective from 11.11.2020.(i.e. the date
of signing of the 11th Bipartite Settlement and Joint
Note dated 11.11.2020); and
2. However, we are in receipt of queries from
member banks seeking clarifications on payment
of minimum pension, rate of family pension to be
paid to the family of deceased employee after
rendering 7 years of service, etc. In this regard, we
would like to advise that the DFS guidelines, vide
the aforesaid letter has not touched upon any
other existing regulations of the BEPR,1995,
except for advising us to pay family pension at a
uniform rate of 30% of pay of the deceased
employee, without any ceiling on family pension,
effective from 1.4.2021.
Warm regards
Yours faithfully,
Brajeshwar Sharma
Sr. Advisor – HR & IR
All our Unions are requested to take note of the
above clarification for proper implementation by
the Banks.
Sd/‑
C. H. Venkatachalam
General Secretary, AIBEA
14 JULY 2022
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BANK FLAG 15 JULY 2022

RECRUITMENT

RECRUITMENT OF CLERKS IN PSBs FOR 2023‑24

BANK FLAG 16 JULY 2022

 RECRUITMENT OF CLERKS IN
PSBs FOR 2023‑24

For the current financial year 2022‑23, Public

Sector Banks (other than SBI) placed Indent for
12,300 clerks. This year IBPS has released the
details of the schedule for the recruitment process.
We observe from therein that the Indent has
further come down to 6,000.
When thousands of vacancies remain
unfilled in all the Banks,
when there is acute shortage of staff in the
Branches,
when employees are finding it difficult to
complete the daily work within the
stipulated working hours,
when there is urgent need to go for more
and more recruitment of clerks to fill up
these vacancies and ease the work
pressure on the employees,
when adequate manpower is required to
ensure proper customer service
the managements are reducing the Indents for
recruitments in Banks.
Following are the details of State‑wise number of
Indents for recruitment.

They want to reduce recruitments and resort to

outsourcing. Hence all our Unions should take up
this matter seriously and demand adequate
recruits in every Bank. AIBEA is also planning an
exclusive agitation and strike on this vital issue of
adequate recruitment.

BANK FLAG 17 JULY 2022

 TWITTER CAMPAIGN

Our struggle against Privatisation

of Banks
UFBU's Twitter Campaign on 17th
July – an impressive success

As a part of our current campaign programmes

against the moves of the Government to privatise
the public, as per the call of UFBU, Twitter
Campaign was undertaken by our units yesterday.

Com Sweta, the young activist & member of social

media team of AIBEA participating in the campaign
with her new born baby.

We are happy to observe that there was active

involvement of our units and members in this
programme, particularly by our young members

Com. C. H. Venkatachalam along with other comrades

in twitter campaign programme at Pune union office

Earlier, we held a virtual meeting of our AIBEA's

Social Media Team wherein suggestions were
given to effectively implement the programme.

At Wasim, Maharashtra
who are more proficient and active in the social
media platforms.

The twitter campaign started by 8 AM with the

common Hashtag #PublicBanksNotForSale.
The campaign picked up very fast and within an
hour, it became trending at No. 1. It continued to

At Mumbai trend till afternoon as tweets were pouring in. In

BANK FLAG 18 JULY 2022


At Rajkot, Gujarat
many places, particularly in Maharashtra and
Gujarat, our comrades assembled in groups in a
At Nagpur
war room and undertook the tweeting collectively.
In Agartala, Tripura, our comrades assembled in
the Union office and jointly undertook the tweeting
programme. By afternoon, there were more than
three lacs tweets. It is heartening to receive
messages that many of our members have
undertaken tweeting by the entire family
members. By evening, there were nearly five lacs
of tweets and our Hashtag was among the top 10.
Many political leaders, trade union leaders,
prominent personalities were tagged in our
campaign and many of them joined our campaign
with their tweets. This campaign has helped us to
BANK FLAG
reach a wider spectrum of people about our
demands.
We thank all our units and members, particularly
our young brigade for the active involvement in the
programme to make it a trending success.
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19 JULY 2022
PERFORMANCE OF BANKS

BANK FLAG 20 JULY 2022

BANK FLAG 21 JULY 2022
BANK FLAG 22 JULY 2022
 NEWS & VIEWS ON BANKING
State Bank of India Writes Off Rs
1.45 Lakh Crore Bad Loans of Big
Defaulters since FY14; Refuses
To Share Names
Yogesh Sapkale
State Bank of India (SBI) has again refused to
share the names of
borrowers who owe Rs100 crore or more, even
with its shareholder. Over the past nine years, from
FY13‑14 up to FY21‑22, SBI has written off bad
loans of over Rs145,248 crore of big defaulters,
while recovering just over 13% from them.
SBI told social activist and shareholder Vivek
Velankar, 'The Bank is under statutory and
regulatory obligations to maintain confidentiality of
customer data, hence information sought cannot
be disclosed.’
The stubborn refusal to share information by SBI
and other public sector banks (PSBs) is surprising
since they have no problem with confidentiality
when it comes to small borrowers. All lenders
regularly publish recovery advertisements in the
newspapers with personal details and photos of
smaller borrowers who have defaulted. The
stubborn protection to big borrowers or large
defaulters under various pretexts is baffling.
Many people, including Mr Velankar, have filed
numerous applications under the Right to
Information (RTI) Act with PSBs, to make the
names of big defaulters public. But, so far, banks
have refused to share names of big defaulters
BANK FLAG
citing 'confidentiality of customer data'. Maybe the
confidentiality clause is applicable only for big
defaulters and not small borrowers, whose details
and photos keep appearing in newspapers along
with recovery notices.
After failing to obtain the list of names of big
defaulters in 2020, Mr Velankar asked for the
information from SBI just before its annual general
meeting (SBI). At that time, SBI had shared names
of big defaulters, Alok Industries Ltd, Bhushan
Power & Steel Ltd, IRVCL Ltd and Videocon
Industries Ltd.
However, in 2021, SBI simply refused to share the
names of big defaulters with its own shareholder.
In a reply, Sham K, assistant general manager for
compliance and company secretary of SBI, told Mr
Velankar, "As Bank is under statutory and
regulatory obligations to maintain confidentiality of
customer data, the Bank is not in a position to
share the account or customer‑specific
information."
He is the same official from SBI who has refused to
share the list of big defaulters this year too.
Further, Mr Sham K also declined to provide
information on loans of Rs1 crore and below
written off and recovery by the Bank since 2013.
"The information is not centrally collated and
maintained by the Bank," he told Mr Velankar in a
written reply.
Mr Velankar, who is also president of Pune‑based
Sajag Nagrik Manch, says, "Two years ago, SBI
had shared names of 225 big defaulters with me as
a shareholder. However, after that, the Bank
denied divulging the names of big defaulters. Does
this mean that SBI's definition of confidentiality of
defaulters keeps changing every year? And why
keep hidden names of big borrowers who had
defaulted and since there is no hope of recovery,
the Bank has technically written off the debts?"
He also searched annual reports of SBI for the past
nine years. "I found that since FY14, SBI wrote off
23 JULY 2022
bad debts worth Rs278,605 crore while recovering
just Rs54,205 crore from these defaulters. The
Union government has set up National Asset
Reconstruction Ltd (NARC) as a bad bank to buy
illiquid and high‑risk assets (typically non‑
performing loans‑ NPLs) held by a bank or a
financial institution. However, looking at the huge
size of written‑off debt by SBI, the government
would have to set up another bad bank just for the
Bank," he says.
Technically speaking, when debts are written off,
they are removed as assets from the balance
sheet because the bank does not expect to
recover payment.
This practice is frowned upon by experts but is
routinely followed by banks as part of their tax
management clean‑up process. The beneficiaries
are invariably some of our biggest industrialist
defaulters.
In contrast, when a bad debt is written down, some
of the bad debt value remains as an asset because
the bank expects to recover it.
Such write‑offs also debunk the aggressive
posturing by the government and policy‑makers
about their so‑called recovery efforts.
All this shows an underhand nexus between the
banks and the defaulters as a distinct possibility
and merits investigation at the highest level.
Source: Moneylife
Loan defaults rose
10‑fold in 10 years
Atul Thakur
Defaulters Can Repay But Won't And 95% of The
Money is Owed To State‑Run Banks
The amount owed by willful defaulters to Indian
banks has risen nore than ten Rs.23,000 crore on
March 31, 2012 to Rs.2.4 lakh crore on May 31 this
year. Data from Trans Union Cibil, a credit
information company, shows defaults increased
significantly during the lockdown to touch Rs.2.6
lakh crore in March 2021, but have since come
down a little.
BANK FLAG
The data pertains only to those accounts in which
suits have been filed against willful defaulters with
outstanding amounts of Rs.25 lakh or more. As of
May 31, there were 12,000 such defaults. The
amount of Rs.2.4 lakh crore is 2.7 times the
allocation of Rs. 86,200 crore to the health ministry
and 42% more than the Rs.1.4 lakh crore allocated
to the rural development ministry which funds
MGNREGA.
Analysis of the 12,000 defaults shows that loans
between Rs.1 crore like those taken by
homebuyers' – account for just over 1% of the total
defaults. On the other hand, over 250 entities that
defaulted on more than Rs 100 core totaled
Rs.1.36 lakh crore or 58% of the total willful
defaults.
Amounts like Rs. 100 core make no intuitive sense
to most middle‑class folks So, here's how you
could think about it. If you earn enough to be able
to save Rs. 10 lakh a year, it would take 1,000
years to save this amount. If parked in a Swiss
long‑term bond (10 years or more), this money
would yield an annual interest of Rs. 1.15 crore
Rs.9.6 lakh per month. It can buy 200 flats worth
Rs. 50 lakh each or more than 190 kg of gold, both
of which can be passed on for generations.
According to RBI, willful defaulter are those who
default on loans despite having the capacity to
repay. Units that divert the funds for purposes
other than the specific purpose of the loan also
come under this category. Firms that siphon off
funds or the assets created by using them are also
classified as willful defaulters.
TOI consolidated the amounts owed by people or
companies who had at least one account in which
they defaulted for Rs. 100 crore or more. Such a
consolidation shows that the ABG Group
promoted by Rishi Agarwal and others tops this
list. The company's seven loan accounts in
different banks add up to Rs. 6,382 core of willful
defaults. Amtek auto Limited and its subsidiaries,
promoted by Arvind Dham, are second with willful
defaults of Rs. 5,886 crore.
The Sandesara brothers, Nitin and Chetan, on the
run for a few years now, are third with the
consolidated default of their company, Stering
Global Oil Resources Pvt. Ltd and its subsidiaries
amounting to Rs. 3,757 crore. Companies of Kapil
and Dheeraj Wadhawan – Dewan Housing
24 JULY 2022
Finance Limited and its subsidiaries – have
willfully defaulted on Rs 2,780 crore. Next on the
list are brothers Sanjay and Sandeep
Jhunjhunwala, whose company Rei Agro Ltd has
defaulted on
Rs. 2,602 crore of bank loans.
Other companies that defaulted on more than Rs.
2,000 crore of bank loans are Mehul Choksi's
Gitanjali Gems Ltd, Sanjay Kumar Sureka's
Concast Steel and Power Ltd, Atul Punj's Punj
Lloyd Ltd and Jatin Mehta's Winsome Diamonds
and subsidiaries. Choksi and Mehta have fled to
the Caribbean islands. Overall, nine companies
have defaulted on more than Rs. 2,000 crore of
loans. Defaults are between Rs. 1,500 crore and
Rs.2,000 crore for the next seven. Famous among
them are Shakti Bhog Foods, Sintex Industries,
Rotomac Global, Deccan Chronicle Holdings and
S Kumars Nationwide.

RICH DEFAULTERS OWE BANKS

RS. 2.4 LAKH CRORE

BANK FLAG 25 JULY 2022

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BANK FLAG
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26 JULY 2022
 BANKING IN PARLIAMENT /

RAJYA SABHA (b) The persons mentioned at serial no. 1 to 9

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3747
Indian fugitives associated with
financial scams
3747. SHRI ABDUL WAHAB:
Will the Minister of Finance be pleased to state:
a) whether Government has any data on the total
number of Indian fugitives associated with
financial scams, misappropriations and bank fraud
cases;
b) if so, the details thereof; and
whether Government is considering to grant
protection to the fugitives if they agree to refund
the money and they be not arrested on returning
back to the country?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF
FINANCE
(a) (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)
above have already been declared as Fugitive
Economic Offenders by the Hon'ble Special Court.
In respect of the remaining persons, applications
to declare them as Fugitive Economic offenders
have been filed in Competent Court.
© The Fugitives shall be dealt as per provisions
of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and
Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018.
RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED
QUESTION NO. 3750
'DIGITAL ECONOMY'
3750: SHRI BRIJLAL:
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:
a) whether the digital economy in the country is
expected to reach 800 billion dollars by the year
2030;
b) the details of the major factors contributing to
the digital economy; and
the steps taken or being taken by Government to
further simplify the digitization process and make it
accessible to the masses?

ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (FINANCE)

(SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a) to ©: Government of India has launched the

'Digital India' programme in 2014 with the vision to
transform India into a digitally empowered society
and knowledge‑based economy by ensuring
digital access, digital inclusion, digital
empowerment and bridging the digital divide.
Various other measures include setting up of
Centers of Excellence in emerging technologies
like Internet of Things, Blockchain, Data Analytics,
etc.; Future Skills Prime programme in emerging
technologies such as AI, big data, additive
manufacturing etc for providing skills to Indian IT
professionals; and launch of National Policy on
Software Products‑2019 with a vision to create a
robust Indian Software Product development
BANK FLAG 27 JULY 2022
ecosystem. ( )
Technology enabled transformative initiatives
such as Digital locker, Unified Mobile Application
for New‑Age Governance (UMANG), Common
Services Centres (CSC), e‑District, National
Scholarship Portal, MyGov, Open Govt. Data
Platform, Online Registration ( ) ( ): , .7.2022
System(ORS)/eHospital, Pradhan Mantri Gramin
Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) Scheme,
Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface
for Money(BHIM) App, etc. has improved the
access to information & service delivery
95%
significantly.
The Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile (JAM) pipeline,
which has been laid for linking Jan‑Dhan account
with mobile number and Aadhaar, has provided the
necessary backbone for easing DBT flows,
adoption of social security/pension Schemes,
facilitating credit flows and promoting digital
payments. Public Digital Platforms, Healthcare,
Education, Agriculture, Logistics, IT/ ITeS industry
are the main catalysts in the overall growth and
transformational change in the economy.
The above measures are a step towards making
the digital economy a significant part of the
country's economy by 2030.

128. :

( )

( ) ,

( ) -

BANK FLAG 28 JULY 2022

 AGAINST PRIVATISATION OF BANKS
Privatisation: Public Sector Bank
Unions to Intensify Agitation, May
go ''for Prolonged Strikes
Ronak Chhabra
Stepping up their opposition to the Centre's
privatisation spree, public sector bank (PSB)
employees on Thursday said they may go for
“prolonged strikes” across the country in case the
government decides to introduce a Bill in this regard.
On 21July, 2022, hundreds of PSB employees and
officers staged a protest demonstration at Jantar
Mantar at the call of United Forum of Bank Unions.
They were joined by Central Trade Union (CTU)
leaders, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh‑
affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh.
The agitational campaign of bank unions in the country,
that has witnessed several strike actions in recent
years, will continue until the Centre assures that its
agenda to privatise the country's PSBs is off the table,
some union leaders told to Newsclick, adding that the
this is so because the Modi government “cannot be
trusted.”
“We have decided that if the government brings any law
to privatise the banks during the ensuing [Monsoon]
session of Parliament, then, there would be intensified
and prolonged strikes in banks,” C H Venkatachalam,
general secretary, All India Bank Employees
Association, said .
Bank officers and employees reiterate their opposition
to privatisation of national banks. Image clicked by
Ronak Chhabra
In the Union Budget for the financial year 2021‑22, the
Narendra Modi government had announced its intent to
privatise two PSBs, with Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman, in April this year, reiterating that the
government will fulfil its commitment to the same.
However, according to one media report, the Central
government has not been able to make considerable
progress on bank privatisation for these many months
now since making the announcement in the face of
trade union opposition.
In December last year, over eight lakh bank officers and
employees across the country struck work for two days
to protest against the listing of a Bill that seeks to
amend banking laws in the country in the legislative
business Winter session of Parliament. Taking note of
the fierce opposition, the government had deferred the
BANK FLAG
plan.
Likewise, in March this year, banks remained closed,
as employees and officers joined the two‑day general
strike call by CTUs to protest against the privatisation of
public enterprises.
The fight to save PSBs from being handed over to
private players will only get intensified in the months to
come, Soumya Datta, general secretary, All India Bank
Officers' Confederation, told Newsclick.
“In case the Bill to privatise PSBs is not listed in the
ongoing Parliament session then after its conclusion,
employees and officers will prepare for activities across
the country to ensure that the Bill is not introduced in
the next session,” Datta said, adding that “it will be a
long‑drawn battle,” for which the bank staff, “is
prepared.”
The resolve to fight 'tooth and nail' against the move to
privatise PSBs by bank staff unions is having some
impact going by reports that the Centre is unlikely to
introduce the contentious Bill in the ongoing Monsoon
session.
However, Amarjeet Kaur, general secretary, All India
Trade Union Congress, told Newsclick that the Modi
government “cannot be trusted”.
“Look at how the Centre uses its executive powers
every now and then to ensure that its agenda of
transferring national wealth to private corporations is
fulfilled,” she said, citing examples of the farm
ordinances, introduced in 2020, among others.
Hence, Kaur added, that the agitation by bank unions
would continue until an assurance is given by the
Centre that the agenda to privatise the country's PSBs
is off the table.
“Privatisation of public enterprises is also being
seriously opposed by all the CTUs in the country. It will
be discussed in our next meeting in the coming days in
which issues, such as inflation and unemployment, will
be addressed,” Tapan Sen, general secretary, Centre
of Indian Trade Unions, told Newsclick.
Earlier, addressing the protesting bank employees,
Sen assured them of support from unions in other
public sector undertakings.
The gathering was also addressed by D Raja, general
secretary, Communist Party of India (CPI) and Rajya
Sabha MP, who extended his party's support to the
bank unions.
“The present government must be held accountable
and answerable,”said Raja, urging bank employees to
“continue with your agitation.”
Courtesey: Newsclick
29 JULY 2022
 68% of profit earned by PSBs
spent on bad loan provisions;
employees hold dharna against
banks privatisation
Vishwadeepak
Amid growing fear and anxiety about their future,
employees working in various Public Sector Banks
(PSB) under the aegis of United Bank Forum –
representing nine powerful bank unions of the country
– held a dharna before the Parliament on Thursday
against the move to privatise public sector banks of
India.
The Modi government had announced a series of
banking reforms last year and said that the loss‑
making public sector banks would be privatised. The
number of PSBs was reduced from 27 to 12 after the
merger was announced as part of the bank reform;
however, a bill to privatise the PSB could not be
brought in during the last three sessions of parliament.
Debunking the 'loss‑making' theory propagated by the
government, bank employees alleged that the Modi
government is playing into the hands of the big
corporates.
Chorus for the privatisation of profit making PSBs is
aimed at handing over enormous resources to a
handful of corporations considered closed to the ruling
dispensation, said one of the protesters.
If PSBs are privatised, it will destroy the rural banking
system, said the All‑ India Bank Employees
Association (AIBEA) – the largest bank union.
Talking to NH, C H Ventakchalam, AIBEA general
secretary said that 68 per cent of the profit earned by
the PSBs goes to the bad loans.
“Thus, the bulk of the profits earned by the Banks goes
for provisions for bad loans and writing off bad loans.
Thus, people's money is being looted by the
Corporates… They will be interested in more profits
only. Slowly only rich people will be encouraged to
have accounts,” said Ventakchalam.
Highlighting difference between operating profit
recorded by PSBs vis a vis provisions for bad loans
Venkatachalam added that the PSBs recorded a profit
of Rs 208,654 crores as of March 2022 but Rs 66,736
crores were given for bad loans. Despite this, Rs
66,736 crores was recorded as the net profit by the
PSBs.
Stressing that the PSBs protected the savings of the
people, Venkatchalam explained, “For the past 6
years, bad loan accounts have been referred to
BANK FLAG
Tribunals under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
(IBC). Instead of loan recovery, these loans are being
sold to some other companies for a cheap rate and
Banks have made huge losses. IBC has become a
medium to loot public money because Banks incur
huge cuts and sacrifice in these deals. Defaulters
escape without any penal action on them.”
He reiterated the old demand of PSB employees that
the government should not bring a bill on Bank
Privatisation.
Will the govt bring PSB privatisation Bill in this
session?
Given the privatisation spree launched by the Modi
government, it was expected that the PSB
privatisation bill will be brought in the ongoing
Monsson Session.
But the Bill has not been presented yet. Moreover, the
bill has not been included in the business list till the
date. Unconfirmed reports suggest that “fearing
backlash and due to policy hurdles, it is very unlikely
that the government will introduce PSB privatisation
bill in this session.”
The unconfirmed reports, however, are not enough to
calm the anxiety and unrest among PSB employees.
Employees demanded that instead of going for
privatisation, the government should recover loans
from big defaulters.
We have been demanding action against them to
recover the loans. But the government is giving them
more and more concessions, said Venkatchalam.
Apart from the PSB privatisation bill, the uncertainty
over the regulation of crypto assets continues, as the
government has not included these two in the list of
Bills to be introduced.
AIBEA rejects Panagariya report on privatisation
On July 13, former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind
Panagaria and Poonam Gupta of National Council of
Applied Economic Research submitted a report
advocating privatisation of all PSBs.
Panagaria who is a known supporter of Gujarat Model
argued that PSBs should be privatised in order to
make the banking system more effective.
Calling the report, “a vindictive and revengeful report
against public sector Banks” the AIBEA said, “They
have completely forgotten that in our country so many
private banks have collapsed due to inefficiency and
government banks had to merge and rescue them.
They have forgotten that 90% of bad loans are due
from the big private corporate companies.”
Courtesey: National Herald
30 JULY 2022
 AIBEA'S DELEGATION TO
SRI LANKA
AIBEA sent a 4 membered Delegation to 13th Delegate
Conference of Ceylone Bank Employees held on 8 July, 2022
at Colombo. The Members of delegation were : Com. Partho
Chanda, Joint Secretary,AIBEA, Com. D. Tuljapurkar, Joint
Secretary, AIBEA , Com. Rajesh Bansal , Joint Treasurer &
Com. E. Arunachalam , Central Committee Member , AIBEA.
Com. Partha Chanda , Joint Secretary addressing the Conference
A view of of the audience
BANK FLAG
DAY LONG DHARNA
ON 4 JULY, 2022
By all india cooperative bank employees federation
in kolkata demanding implementation of rbi
guidelines of amalgamation of district cooperative
banks with state cooperative bank
Com. Kamal Bhattacharyya,Chairman , BPBEA addressing in DHARNA
Com. Tapan Kumar Bose, General Secretary, All India Cooperative
Bank Federation , speaking on the occasion
Com. Rajen Nagar, President, AIBEA, General Secretary, BPBEA &
Com. Tapan Kr. Bose, General Secretary , AICBEF submitting the
memorandum to RBI, Kolkata
A partial view of the gathering
31 JULY 2022
 BPBEA'S STRUGGLE AGAINST SONALI BANK MANAGEMENT
BPBEA launched a 3day's continuous Dharna from 13‑15 July, 2022 and 1 day Dharna on 28 July, 2022
before Sonali Bank , Kolkata as a part of BPBEA's long drawn struggle against Sonali Bank's unlawful
termination of the service of Com. Syed Md. Sahabuddin and other employees. Com. Syed MD
Sahabuddin raised voice against the corruption of Sonali Bank management; as a result the
management terminated him violating all norms, acts, and rules of India, the service conditions of bank
employees in India as well as ignoring the Court's order. More than three months BPBEA is continuously
protesting against this inhuman act of the management will continue till the termination order is
withdrawn.

BANK FLAG 32 JULY 2022

AIBEA SENDS RELIEF TO ASSAM FLOOD VICTIMS

BANK FLAG 33 JULY 2022

 Registration No. KOLSTRMS/43/2019-21
Published on 31 July 2022
Regd. No. RN/63148/95

India lost at least Rs 100 crore every

day to bank fraud or scams : RBI
The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has revealed that India lost
at least Rs 100 crore every day to bank fraud or scams
over the past seven years. Between April 1, 2015 and
December 31 last year, banking fraud worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore
was detected across states in India. Maharashtra, where the
financial capital of the country is located in Mumbai, alone
accounted for nearly 50% of the total money lost in fraud,
followed by the states of Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat and Tamil
Nadu. These five states together accounted for more than Rs
2 lakh crore or 83% of the total money evolved in bank fraud
cases.

To

ALL INDIA BANK EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION

LONG LIVE
AIBEA

BANKFLAG
3B. LALBAZAR STREET

Gautam Adanis wealth rises more

PHONE: 2262-2192
KOLKATA – 700001

than anyone else including Elon

Musk, richer by $ 36 billion in 2022
i.e. RS. 2,88,000 CRORES
1ST FLOOR

38 % of Indian children are in high

From

levels of malnutrition

Published by Shri Kamal Kumar Bhattacharyya on behalf of All India Bank Employees Association, 3b Lal Bazar
Street, Kolkata-700001 & E-Journal by Rang Pencil, www.rangpencil.co.in Editor – Shri Kamal Kumar
Bhattacharyya.
BANK FLAG 34 JULY 2022