AIBOC CIRCULAR NO. 50 DATED 22.04.2010

AIBOC issued its circular No. 50 on meeting with Hon'ble Finance Minister, Govt. of India. We are reproducing the same here for our readers.

CIRCULAR NO.50                                                                   22.04.2010

TO ALL AFFILIATES/MEMBERS:

MEETING WITH HON’BLE FINANCE MINISTER, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

Members are aware that the date of effect of Pension to CPF Optees was not resolved at IBA level, hence, UFBU requested for intervention of Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Govt. of India.  Accordingly, leaders of UFBU met Hon’ble Finance Minister on 21.04.2010 at New Delhi and forcefully presented the views of the UFBU on the effective date of Pension to CPF optees, from 1^st April 2008, as additional cost required for 2^nd Option on Pension was assessed by the common Actuaries based on the details made available as on 31.03.2008. 

But the Hon’ble Finance Minister did not agree with the argument as IBA was of the view that, Pension has to be effective from the date of signing the final settlement on Pension. However, he

suggested that, effective date may be from the date of signing the MoU i.e. 27^th November, 2009.

The UFBU will meet on 26^th April, 2010 at Mumbai, to take a final view of the issue connected with pension, new pension scheme, outsourcing etc.

The IBA has called for a meeting with the UFBU on 27^th April, 2010, at Mumbai, with a view to sign the final settlement on Pension and Salary revision.  We shall advise the further developments later.

With warm greetings,

Sd/-

(G.D. NADAF)

GENERAL SECRETARY

AIBOC CIRCULAR NO. 49 DATED 22.04.2010

AIBOC issued its circular No. 49 on Triennial General Council Meeting of All India Bank of Rajasthan Officers' Association. We are reproducing the same here for our readers.

CIRCULAR NO.49                                                   22.04.2010

TO ALL AFFILIATES/MEMBERS:

TRIENNIAL GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING OF ALL INDIA BANK OF RAJASTHAN OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION HELD ON 18.04.2010 AT CHANDIGARH

Our affiliate, All India Bank of Rajasthan Officers’ Association held their Triennial General Council Meeting at Kisan Bhavan, Chandigarh on 18.04.2010, in a grand style. The meeting was attended by a large number of delegates, observers, invitees from all over the Country.

Sri. G. Padmanabhan, CEO of Bank of Rajasthan, was the Chief Guest.  Addressing the large gathering of officers, appreciated the proactive and positive role played by the Association in achieving a concerted and planned growth of the Bank.  He gave a call for hard work with total dedication on part of the officers’ community in the Bank, which is essential to put the Bank on a strong pedestal.  He wished the function all success and expressed the hope that there will be very meaningful deliberations in the Business Session.

During the Business Session, Sri.Aravind Jain, General Secretary of the Association presented his report and many delegates deliberated on the report. The General Secretary’s report was adopted unanimously after the General Secretary’s replies to the debate.  The Audited balance sheets for 3 years were also adopted unanimously.

The following office bearers were elected for the ensuing Triennial Period:

Com. Hemendra Lodha: President

Com. K.K.Sharma – Vice President

Com.P.D.Singhal – Vice President

Com. Pramod Kumar Gaur – General Secretary

Com. Om Singh – Joint Secretary

Com. Suwalal Sharma – Treasurer

We heartily congratulate the newly elected Office Bearers and wish them all success in their future endeavours.

With warm greetings,

Sd/-

(G.D. NADAF)

GENERAL SECRETARY

BANK UNIONS-IBA WAGE PACT LIKELY NEXT WEEK

Bank unions and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) are likely to ink the final settlement of the industry-level wage revision on April 27 in Mumbai. The wage revision for the banking industry is due from November 2007.

The decks have been cleared for the final settlement after a delegation of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), led by its convenor Mr C. H.Venkatachalam, met the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, at North Block on Wednesday.

In November 2009, the UFBU and IBA had agreed for a 17.5 per cent increase in wages under the proposed ninth bipartite settlement, which would span five years until October 2012. It was also agreed to give both existing as well as certain retired employees another chance to opt for pension benefits.

As many as 7.75 lakh employees from 26 public sector, 12 private and eight foreign banks would benefit from the final wage settlement.

The annual wage bill for the public sector banks, including the State Bank of India Group, was Rs 27,500 crore for the year ended March 31, 2007. This ninth bipartite settlement would lead to an additional annual outgo of Rs 4,816 crore for the public sector banks and Rs 400 crore for private and foreign banks.

About 2.6 lakh existing (non SBI) employees are to get another chance to switch to pension from Provident Fund as a retirement benefit. Also, about 60,000 retired employees, who are PF optees, will now be given another chance to switch to pension benefits.

Public sector bank employees can currently avail themselves of only two retirement benefits — pension or provident fund and gratuity. In the eighth bipartite wage settlement, the bank unions had settled for 13.25 per cent hike.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/04/23/stories/2010042354470100.htm

BILL TO RAISE GRATUITY CEILING TO RS 10 LAKH

A bill to raise the ceiling of gratuity for employees to Rs 10 lakh from the current level of Rs 3.5 lakh was introduced in the Lok Sabha today. 

The Payment of Gratuity (Amendment) Bill 2010, introduced by Minister of State for Labour Harish Rawat, seeks to amend the Gratuity Act to enhance the amount of gratuity payable to an employee from Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. 

The legislation was brought following demands from trade unions and others to remove the ceiling or increase the maximum payable amount which was fixed in 1997. 

Based on these representations, the bill proposes to enhance the ceiling of gratuity.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/Bill-to-raise-gratuity-ceiling-to-Rs-10-lakh/articleshow/5843991.cms

IBA FIXES 27TH APRIL FOR SIGNING THE SETTLEMENT

AIBOC has informed that IBA has fixed 27th April 2010 for signing settlement on salary and pension to CPF optees

ENHANCEMENT OF GRATUITY CEILING PASSED BY LOK SABHA

As per the available information, Lok Sabha today passed the bill for enhancement of gratuity ceiling to Rs.10.00 lacs. Bill will be placed before Rajya Sabha shortly. Labour Ministry will be deciding the date of effect while issuing notification.

PNB BAD LOANS HIGHEST AMONG PSU BANKS;UP 3-FOLD IN 9 MONTHS

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has earned the dubious distinction of recording the fastest growth in bad loans among state-owned banks. PNB, whose bad loans grew three-fold to Rs 842 crore during the period, was followed by Union Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Vijaya Bank and Canara Bank, said a report of the Standing Committee of Finance tabled in Parliament.

However, some of the leading banks, including Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, UCO Bank and, State Bank of Hyderabad managed to reduce their net NPAs during the nine-month period.

The government attributed the increase in NPAs of PNB and some other state-owned banks to factors like the impact of the global economic recession, bad monsoon and bird flu.

According to the data, the net NPAs of Union Bank of India during the period increased to Rs 573 crore from Rs 193 crore at the end of March 2009. Corporation Bank's net NPAs increased to Rs 266 crore from Rs 144 crore during the nine-month period. In case of Canara Bank, the net NPAs increased to Rs 1,721 crore from Rs 1,350 crore at the end of March 2009, while Bank of India's bad loans stood at Rs 1,457 crore against Rs 834 crore during the same period.

The net NPAs of SBI increased to Rs 10,201 crore from Rs 8,850 crore during the nine-month period.

The net NPAs of 27 public sector lenders, including six associate banks of SBI, increased to Rs 25,610 crore at the end of December 2009 compared to Rs 20,801 crore in March 2009.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/finance/PNB-bad-loans-highest-among-PSU-banksup-3-fold-in-9-months/articleshow/5840245.cms

NO IMPACT ON INTEREST RATES; STATUS QUO TO CONTINUE – ARUN KAUL, ED, CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA

According to Mr. Arun Kaul, Executive Director, Central Bank of India, there was no surprise in the policy announcement made by RBI as RBI's action was factored in by the market. Thus, there would not be any impact on interest rates and status quo would be maintained.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/no-immediate-hike-in-bank-interest-rates/91814/on

AXIS BANK Q4 NET UP 31.54% ;FY10 PROFIT AT RS 2,478.14 CR.

As informed to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Axis Bank’s net profit rose by 31.54 per cent to Rs 764.87 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010. Total income stood at Rs 3,921.99 crore for the March quarter against Rs 3,884.73 crore for the same period previous fiscal.

The bank posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,478.14 crore for the year ended March 31, 2010 against Rs 1,812.93 crore last fiscal. Besides, the bank has earned an interest of Rs 2,988.45 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs 3,039.22 crore for the same period last fiscal.

     
The consolidated interest earned by the bank for the year ended March 31, stood at Rs 11,639.05 crore compared to Rs 10,829 crore previous fiscal.

    
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/axis-bank-q4-net3154-fy10-profit-at-rs-247814-cr/91873/on

C.B.O.A. CIRCULAR NO. 8 DATED 16.04.2010

Central Bank Officers' Association, Andhra Pradesh issued its circular No. 8 on Bipartite Talks with IBA. We are reproducing the same here.
Circular No. GS: 2010: 008               Date: 16.04.2010
TO ALL OFFICERS                  PLEASE CIRCULATE
Dear Friends,
We reproduce hereunder the Circular No. CIRCULAR/GS/2010/5 dated 15-04-2010 received from our Federation for your information.
With best regards
Yours sincerely
Sd/-
(C.A. MALLIKARJUNA RAO)
GENERAL SECRETARY
..........................................…………….…………………………
We reproduce hereunder circular received from AIBOC for your information:

“BIPARTITE TALKS WITH IBA

Another round of bipartite talks was held between IBA and UFBU constituents at Mumbai on 13^th April 2010.  IBA was represented  by  Mr. R. Ramakrishnan, Chief  Executive,  Mr. K. Unnikrishnan,  Dy. Chief Executive and Mr. M. Venugopalan, Officer on Special Duty.  From UFBU, representatives of all the 9 Unions were present.

In today’s meeting, issues relating to settlement on pension option were taken up.  The draft Settlement was discussed in detail and finalized.

Regarding retirees, the formula for contribution of Rs. 934 crores ( 30% gap ) of the deficit, after refund of the PF amount (Bank’s contribution), it has been decided that the retirees will contribute as under:

Refund of PF amount (Bank's contribution) actually

     received at the time of retirement (no interest

     is payable on this amount)                                  Rs. X

PLUS 56% on this amount of Rs. X                             Rs. Y

LESS Commutation amount receivable from the 

     Bank                                                               Rs. Z

Net Amount refundable to the Bank (X + Y - Z)           Rs. -----

Regarding Existing Employees / Officers, out of the net gap of Rs. 6000 crores, Banks would contribute 70 %  i.e. Rs. 4200 crores. For the balance of Rs. 1800 crores ( 30%) employees / officers would contribute as under: (This will be a onetime contribution and would be recovered from the arrears.)

For existing employees/Officers:

1.6 times of "Pay" payable for the month of November 2007 (Revised Scales)

For employees who have joined the Banks after 1-11-2007:

Their contribution would be proportionately reduced

Date of effect of pension option:  IBA reiterated their stand that pension option would be effective from the date of the Settlement while we have explained our viewpoint that it should be w.e.f. 1-4-2008.  Differences on this issue persist.  UFBU decided to take steps to find a solution to this issue.

Improvements under Pension Scheme:  We took up with IBA various improvements in the Pension scheme like periodical updation of pension along with wage revision for serving employees, 100 % DA neutralization to all pensioners, common indexation of pension, increase in commutable portion of pension, increase in Ex Gratia for Pre-1986 retirees/widows, higher pension for pensioners above the age of 80, covering CPF Optees who resigned etc.  After discussion it has been decided to submit a memorandum on these issues to the IBA and the Government and to be pursued further.

Salary Revision: The Joint note on Salary Revision for officers’ will be finalized very soon. We are planning to meet the Chairman IBA  in connection with certain improvements in service conditions and residual issues, such as: regulated working hours.  5 day week, accumulation of privilege leave, mode of travel for junior officers, transportation charges on transfer, facilities to women officers, enhancement in staff loan ceilings etc.,

Friends, we are aware of the anxiety at the grass root level and are trying our best to finalize the settlements on Salary Revision and 2^nd Option on Pension simultaneously at the earliest.  We shall keep you updated.”

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

(D.S. BHADAURIA)

GENERAL SECRETARY