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CBROA/News Bulletin/July 2019 Date : 01.07.2019

Dear Friends,

Sri Viral Acharya, the Deputy Governor of

India, submitted his resignation on 25th

June,2019. The resignation, six months

before the end of his term citing

“unavoidable personal reasons”, has come

as a rude shock as the country is losing the

services of a strong supporter of Reserve

Bank’s independence. Acharya was the first

to sound the bugle when things were going

wrong between RBI and Government. In an

explosive speech in October last year,

Acharya had defended RBI’s autonomy,

which was seen to be under threat from

Government interference. In his speech,

Acharya had said, “ Governments that do

not respect Central Bank’s independence

will sooner or later incur the wrath of

financial markets, ignite economic fire, and

come to rue the day they undermined an

important regulatory Institution; their wiser

counterparts who invest in Central Bank’s

independence will enjoy lower costs of

borrowing, the love of international

investors, and longer life spans.” The

speech had exposed the rift between RBI

and the Government over several issues,

chiefly who controls RBI’s reserves; relaxing

norms for weak and state owned banks,

liquidity for Non-Banking Finance Companies

and concessions on capital adequacy.

Matters came to a head when the

Government threatened to invoke Section 7

of the RBI Act, 1934 that would have

allowed the Government to give directions

to the Reserve Bank. The face-off ended

with the resignation of Shri Urjit Patel as

RBI Governor.

The Government has been trying to cut

down RBI to size for quite some time. When

Shri Raghuram Rajan was, for all practical

purposes, shown the door, his more

accommodative successor, Shri Urjit Patel,

not only was not allowed to have a say on

the question of demonetization, but was not

even allowed to announce the measures, as

his responsibility demanded. But even

accommodativeness has its limits, as

became clear when after much

procrastination the Reserve Bank of India

finally revealed the fact that virtually the

entire demonetized cash had returned to

the Banking system. The Government of

India has kept an eye on the huge reserves

of RBI and wanted a framework for deciding

the Central Bank’s capital requirements,

which would give clarity on dividend flows

to the Government. This was one of the

flash points that led to an open battle

between the RBI and the Government. Shri

Urjit Patel’s premature exit from RBI was in

protest against this interference of the

Government in the autonomy of RBI.

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The specific move of interference is the

proposal to set up an independent Payments

Regulatory Board (PRB), for the regulation

of the more recently developed payments

system, such as credit and debit cards and

other similar instruments, which would be

outside the purview of the Reserve Bank of

India.This has been recommended by an

Inter-ministerial Committee set up to

finalise amendments to the Payment and

Settlement Systems Act 2007 under the

Chairmanship of the Secretary, Department

of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of

Finance. The RBI had a nominee on this

Committee, who gave a dissenting note.

The Report of the Committee has been

placed in the Public Domain and the RBI has

revealed the dissenting note through a press

release.

Since the RBI is responsible for formulating

the Monetary Policy of the Country which

includes controlling money supply, taking

the Regulation of the payments system out

of the purview of RBI is a serious

abridgement of its powers. It is also a

potential source of much confusion with

the possibility of multiple institutions, all

dealing with money or money substitutes ,

acting at cross purposes. Besides if there

are multiple institutions then it also

becomes difficult to pin down the blame

for mismanagement on any single one of

them. Social control over the monetary

management of the economy becomes that

much more difficult to exercise if there are

multiple agencies, tasked with the

responsibility for such Management.

The payments system creates instruments

which, while being money substitutes, also

differ from money in a crucial way. As the

volume of card payments increases, the net

debt of the household sector to the world of

business on account of card payment

becomes higher at any given moment of

time. The regulation of the size of this net

debt of the card-holding households relative

to the incomes of such households becomes

necessary. This is because, the Banking

system, through which such debt is

mediated, especially in India, where the

payments system is bank dominated, will

otherwise become subject to unbearable

stress. If such regulation is not maintained

then banks will get saddled with huge non-

performing assets which would undermine

their viability. Such Regulation, however,

will have to be exercised over banks,

curbing their over-enthusiasm to give loans

to card holders, imposing controls on card

limits, calibrating the link of such limits to

the outstanding debt on account of cards

etc. The proposed Payments Regulatory

Board, if it is to be effective, will therefore

need to have jurisdiction over the Banking

system. But regulating Banks is the job of

the RBI, so that a separate PRB will either

poach into the RBI’s jurisdiction or subject

Banks to multiple regulations creating much

confusion.

Thus the proposal will subvert the Central

Bank’s authority and create much confusion

in the monetary management of the

economy. Indeed, as the dissenting note by

the RBI Representative points out,

Regulation of the payments system by the

Central Bank is the dominant International

model. The Government by departing from

it for no palpable reason other than,perhaps

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to cut the RBI down to size, will only create

mayhem.

Social control over the Central Bank in the

interests of the people of a nation is not

synonymous with Government control.

Social control should involve parliamentary

oversight, and answerabilityto the people

through the setting up of an appropriate

Institutional structure. We must appreciate

the fact that RBI must function

independently without any kind of

intervention from the Government in its

autonomy.

We wish all our members and their families

a happy, healthy, joyous and peaceful time

for all the days ahead.

Yours sincerely,

A N Krishna Murthy

General Secretary

Bangalore

01.07.2019

SRI SARAD KUMAR HOTA, GENERAL

MANAGER OF CANARA BANK & MANAGING

DIRECTOR OF CANFIN HOMES, APPOINTED

AS MANAGING DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL

HOUSING BANK LTD.

Sri.Sarada Kumar Hota, Managing Director

of Canfin Homes has been appointed as

Managing Director of National Housing Bank

and his tenure if for a period of three

years, the Finance Ministry has said in a

notification. The appointment of Sri Hota

comes at a time when the Housing Finance

Sector is going through a turbulent phase

due to liquidity crunch sparked off by a

series of defaults by IL&FS Group

companies.

CBROA heartily congratulates Sri.Sarada

Kumar Hota and we wish him all success in

all his future endeavours.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR BANK’S

PERFORMANCE FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31.03.2019.

Amount in Crores

Aggregate Deposit 5,99,123

Aggregage Advances 4,28,115

Total Business 10,27,238

Net NPA 22,986

Net Profit 602

OUR BANK

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OUR BANK DECLARES STAFF WELFARE

MEASURES FOR 2019-20.

We are happy to inform you that our Bank

has permitted continuation of all the

existing Schemes under Staff Welfare

Measures this year too despite the Bank

posting a modest profit during the previous

financial year. The Regular Pensioners will

get Medical Expenses Reimbursement of

Rs.2,500/- and the family pensioners will

get Rs.1,000/-.

All surviving pre-1986 or spouses of such

deceased retirees who are being paid ex-

gratia from our Bank every month will be

paid ex-gratia as follows:

Existing Amount

Revised Amount

Regular Ex-gratia beneficiaries

Rs.1,000 Rs.1,500

Family Ex-gratia beneficiaries

Rs.1,500 Rs.2,000

We will communicate the details

separately.

CANARA BANK GAVE A DONATION OF

RS.9.28 CROE TO ODISHA CHIEF

MINISTERS’ RELIEF FUND

Our MD&CEO Sri.Shankarnarayanan handed

over a DD for Rs.9.28 crore to the Chief

Minister of Odisha being donation to Odisha

Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

FOUNDATION DAY CELEBRATION AT HO

BENGALURU ON 1ST JULE,2019.

Foundation Day of our Bank was celebrated

at Head Office and all over the country on

1st July,2019. On the occasion CANDI

MOBILE BANKING APP which offers a host of

customer centric functionalities, was

launched. CANDI Denotes CANARA DIGITAL.

The APP is inbuilt with lite version of

Bank’s Internet Banking with the futuristic

vision of “ONE BANK, ONE APP.” New Term

Deposit Khazana and an add on “Cyber

Crime Insurance Policy Cover” were also

launched.

The APP provides the following facilities:

• Open Fixed and Recurring Deposit

instantly.

• Initiate NEFT and RTGS Transactions.

• Pay EMIs for the loans availed by

you.

• Add and maintain Standing

instructions.

FOR KIND INFORMATION OF EX-EMPLOYEE

PENSIONERS

Form16 Part A and Part B of our Ex-

Employee Pensioners for the FY 2018-19 has

been uploaded in our Bank’s website. The

download link has been made available in

www.canarabank.com-

>announcements(top right corner)->Ex-

employees(Left Column). Pensioners are

advised to make use of the facility to

download Form 16 both Part A and B.

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CBOA OPENED HOLIDAY HOME AT

RAMESHWARAM ON 09.06.2019.

CBOA has opened its own Holiday Home

“CAN APLS’ CASTLE” at Rameshwaram,

Tamilnadu on 09.06.2019. The newly

opened Holiday Home was inaugurated by

Sri.R A Shankara Narayanan, MD & CEO of

our Bank. The occasion was graced by

Sri.M Paramshivam and Sri.M Abdul Ajeez,

General Managers. The Holiday Home

facility is available to the members of

CBROA.

UFBU CIRCULAR NO.UFBU/2019/04

DATED 19.06.2019: TALKS WITH IBA.

The 5 workmen unions, AIBOA and INBOC

participated in the Bipartite Wage Revision

talks held at IBA on 19.06.2019. AIBOC and

NOBO did not participate in the talks in

the background of non-resolution of the

mandate issue by the IBA. They had

requested the workmen unions not to

participate in the bipartite discussions till

the issue of mandate by banks to cover all

grades of Officers for wage negotiations.

IBA reiterated its earlier stand that the

negotiations will cover officers upto Scale

V. In the discussions the Unions raised the

issues like 5 day banking, increasing the

Management’s contribution to 14% of pay

for employees/Officer covered by NPS,

improvement in family pension, updation

of pension for existing pensioners etc. The

Unions demanded improvement beyond

the Offer of 10% made by IBA. The Unions

raised the issue of unilateral changes in

some of the features of Medical Insurance

policy of United Insurance Co.Ltd; which

are in violation of the settlement. In view

of the need to continue the Group

Mediclaim Policy for employees/officer

and retirees from October/November,

2019, IBA informed that they would be

shortly inviting quotations from various

insurance companies both in Public Sector

and Private Sector, The Unions conveyed

that while the premium quoted by them

should be competitive, preference should

be given to Public Sector insurance

companies. There was also detailed

discussion on the various problems being

faced by employees/officers at Bank level

as well as with the TPAs and UIIC in

settlement of claims and IBA agreed that

these issues would be taken during the

quarterly meetings being held with them.

CBOA NEWS

AIBOC / AINBOF / UFBU NEWS

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UFBU ADDREESSED A LETTER TO THE

CEO, IBA ON 03.07.2019 SEEKING

UNCONDITIONAL MANDATE BY BANKS TO

COVER ALL OFFICERS UPTO TEG SCALE

VII FOR WAGE REVISION.

The UFBU leadership has stressed the need

to cover all the Officers from JMG Scale I

to TEG Scale VII for the ongoing Wage

Revision talks in progress and brought the

following points to the notice of IBA.

1.The Officers’ Service Regulations 1979

applicable to Public Sector Banks are

governed by the Banking Regulation Act

1970/1980 and the State Bank of India Act

1955.Any change in the terms of service

condition should have the concurrence of

the Central Government through the

Official Gazette Notification and also of

Reserve Bank of India.

2.The Standardisation of Pay and

Allowances have come to stay based on

the Pillai Committee Recommendations in

Public Sector Banks from 01.07.1979, 1980

and in State Bank of India from

01.10.1979.

3.All the seven Joint Notes on wage

revision right from 1985 till 2015covered

all the seven scalesof Officers in Public

Sector Banks.

4.The successive Pay Commissions for

Central Government Employees cover right

from sub-ordinate cadre and up to Cabinet

Secretary.

5.The CLC (Central), in the proceedings

held on 28th May 2018in which IBA

Representatives too participated, advised

to continue with the past practices of

covering all seven scales while finalizing

the wage revision.

6.Subsequent to the Meeting on 28th

May,2018, IBA did inform the six Banks

namely State Bank of India,Punjab

National Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank

of Baroda, Indian Bank and Oriental Bank

of Commerce to revise their decision on

truncated mandate given by them to IBA

for Wage Revision. Oriental Bank Of

Commerce did give the revised mandate to

cover all the Officers upto Scale VII.

7.In the past two Joint Notes, Officers’

Organisations had shown flexibility to

elongate the Scale from Scale IV upto

Scale VII and also differential Special

Allowances to Scale IV and V and Scale VI

and VII.

8.When the Officers, Code of Conduct and

Discipline & Appeal Regulationsare

common from 1976, how come a new

theory is promoted by five banks?

9.Out of 19 Banks, 14 Banks have given full

mandate, leaving the five. Will the

decision of the minority prevail over the

majority? How will IBA fulfil the mandateof

14 Banks as they no plan to draw different

scale of their own for Officers of Scale IV

and above?

The Officers’ fraternity is getting

frustrated and impatient for the undue

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delay in wage settlement due to the

obstinate stand of the management of few

Banks? They are becoming restless and

want to expresstheir anguish through the

platform of Officers’ organisations.

We therefore, in the best of interest of the

industry and its present performance in

trying circumstances urge upon you to

resolve the much vexed question of

fractured mandate by these five banksso

as to take forward the wage negotiations

to a faster mode and not force us to take

the path of agitation.

AIBOC LEADERS CALLED ON THE UNION

MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE ON

26.06.2019.

AIBOC leaders called on Mr.Anurag Thakur,

Minister of State for Finance, Government

of India on 26.06.2019 and submitted

memorandum to the Minister.

The Memorandum highlights the demands

of the Officers’ community in the Banking

Industry and also contains two specific

paragraphs on the issues of Bank

Pensioners. Following is the Text of the

two paragraphs.

PENSION UPDATION: Pension is revised for

retired Government employees with every

pay revision automatically. Recently

Government has updated pension of RBI

Personnel. But, for Bank employees, it

does not happen at all. With this, many

are being paid pension, which is awfully

low. Retirees cannot meet day to day

expenditure and cannot afford a dignified

living.

FAMILY PENSION: Family pension is nothing

short of a pittance- half the rate

applicable to Government employees.

Pension drawn by Officers in highest scale

i.e General Managers of yester years is

lesser than that of clerks, who have

retired/retiring today.

We request that pension for Bank

employees needs to be updated with every

salary revision and family pension needs to

be revised as is applicable to Government

employees. Retired Officers have a right to

lead a reasonable life for having devoted

their life time to the cause of the

organization and nation building.

RECKONING ALLOWANCES AS BASIC FOR

THE PURPOSE OF ARRIVING AT

SUPERANNUATION BENEFITS.

We also invite your kind invitation to the

judgment delivered by Hon’ble Supreme

Court on 28th February,2019 in Civil Appeal

No. 6221 of 2011 filed by Regional

Provident Fund Commissioner(II) West

Bengal wherein it was held that the

Special Allowance Payable in all these

concerns to all the employees without

exception, falls within the definition of

Basic Wages in Sec 2(b) of EPF Act, is

similar to the definition of wages in

Section 2(s) of Payment of Gratuity

Act,1972. The above judgment is clearly

applicable to Banks’ Provident Scheme

too, making it obligatory on Banks to

reckon Special Allowance for contribution

to Provident Fund for Employees, who are

PF optees and as a sequel extend its

application to pay defined under Pension

Regulation 2(s).

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In view of the ratios applied by the

Hon’ble Supreme Court , the Special

Allowance with its Dearness Allowance

Component should be reckoned for

payment of Gratuity, contribution to

Provident Fund and Computation of

Pension. It is also pertinent to submit that

all Allowances counted for the purpose of

making contribution to Provident Fund and

for Payment of Dearness Allowance are

the component of Pay for the purpose of

computation of Pension in terms of

Pension Regulation 2(s)(b)(ii). The

employees, who fall under the X Bipartite

Settlement, should also be rightfully

extended the benefits of this landmark

judgment.

STATEMENT OF SRI.G V MANIMARAN,

GENERAL SECRETARY,AINBOF ON WAGE

REVISION.

AINBOF’s first demand of minimum wages

formula to be used in finalizing the wages

for the Bank Officers is likely to be

fructified as the Cabinet Committee has

accorded its approval to THE CODE ON

WAGES BILL 2017 shortly. This will

facilitate the fixation of National Minimum

Wages which will set the base for the Bank

Officers without linking to the Profitability

and Paying Capacity, but should match to

the status of the individual to enable them

to lead a decent life. Now we have to

accelerate our action to get our basic

demands of Wages as Detailed below.

1. Minimum Wages Formula to be

adopted.

2. Scale I Officers’ Wages must be

equivalent to Grade A Officers of

GOI.

3. Running Scales of Pay. 4.Updation

of Pension.

AINBOF has addressed a detailed letter to

the Union Finance Minister on the need to

expedite wage revision on the above lines.

CBPRO DELEGATION CALLED ON THE

LEADERSHIP OF AIBOC AT BENGALURU on

26TH JUNE,2019

AIBOC Executive Council Meeting was held

at Bengaluru on 26th June,2019. To make

use of the presence of AIBOC Top

leadership, a team comprising

Mr.Shantharaju, Mr.Sukumar, Mr.Nagaraj

Shastry from SBI,Sri.A N Krishna Murthy,

Sri.P S Gajanana from CBROA, met AIBOC

President Mr Debashish and General

Secretary, Sri.Soumya Dutta at the Meeting

Venue and prevailed upon AIBOC

Leadership to pursue our issues with IBA

and Government. Both the President and

General Secretary have reiterated their

stand that AIBOC will not participate in

any wage talk Meetings unless the issue of

Updation of Pension is resolved.

They also informed that AIBOC will go

ahead with series of agitational

programmes across the country and sought

the wholehearted support and

participation of all the retirees in all such

activities.

AIBPARC / CBPRO NEWS

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AIBPARC Circular No.32/2019 dated

03.06.2019 : AIBPARC leadership sent a

Congratulatory letter to the Prime Minister

Sri Narendra Modi on his election as Prime

Minister for the second term. While

wishing him all success in his future

endeavours, AIBPARC has also drawn the

attention of the Prime Minister to the long

pending, legitimate issues of pensioners of

Banking Industry which need to be

resolved at an early date.

AIBPARC Circular No. 33/2019 dated

03.06.2019 : AIBPARC congratulated

Smt.Nirmala Sitharaman, on her assuming

charge of the Portfolio of Union Finance

Minister and has wished her all success in

her future endeavours. AIBPARC has also

drawn her kind attention to the long

pending, legitimate demands of the

pensioners of Banking Industry and has

sought her intervention in resolving the

issues amicably.

AIBPARC Circular No.34/2019 dated

07.06.2019 : AIBPARC has reproduced the

CBPRO letters to The Prime Minister and

the Union Finance Minister on their

assumption of Office and wished both of

them a very successful tenure ahead. The

letter also have drawn the attention of the

Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to

the unresolved issues of

pensioners/retirees of Banking Industry.

AIBPARC Circular No.36/2019 dated

10.06.2019 : AIBPARC Advises the affiliates

to take up the issue of Arrears of

Commutation and interest thereon arising

out of basic pension to rectify DA Anomaly

for those who retired during the period

01.04.1998 to 31.10.2002, with their

Managements, as many Managements have

not complied with the Supreme Court

order dated 13.02.2018. In Canara Bank

the arrears were paid well before the

deadline fixed by the Supreme Court

order.

AIBPARC Circular No.40/2019 dated

14.06.2019 : CBPRO/AIBRF addressed a

letter to the Chief Executive Officer of IBA

to resolve the issue of improvement in

family pension by extending uniform 30%

family pension in Banks. During the

Bipartite discussions for the 10th Bipartite

Settlement IBA had assured that the issue

of improvement in family pension being a

fair and reasonable demand will be

resolved in a couple of months’ time.

However, despite of a lapse of more than

four years, the issue remains unresolved.

AIBPARC urged upon the IBA to resolve the

issue which is a very emotive issue.

AIBPARC Circular No.41/2019 dated

17.06.2019 : CBPRO and AIBRF have

addressed a letter to the Chief Executive

Officer of IBA to resolve the long pending,

legitimate demand of updation of pension

for retirees in the Banking Industry.

CBPRO/AIBRF have highlighted the

legitimacy of revision / updating pension

of Bank retirees and have clarified the

feasibility of extending the benefit without

putting any extra burden on the Banking

Industry. In the background of the

Government of India giving clearance to

RBI to update the pension of their

employees, our demand for updation of

pension needs to be considered without

any further delay since the Pension

RegulationNo.35(1) is already enshrined in

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the Bank Employees’ Pension Regulations

1995.

AIBPARC Circular No. 42/2019 dated

17.06.2019 : AIBPARC submitted a

memorandum to the Principal Officer, GST

Council praying for waiver of GST

Component from the premium on Group

Mediclaim Policy for Bank employees and

pensioners/retirees. The attention of the

GST Council is drawn to the fact that way

back in 2012, Government of India had

advised the Public Sector Banks to consider

an Insurance Scheme for Bank

Pensioners/retirees and nowhere in the

directive the Government had advised the

Banks to pass on the burden of Insurance

Premium to the pensioners/retirees. While

the Insurance Premium for serving

employees is borne by the Banks, the

insurance premium in case of

pensioners/retirees is borne by the

pensioners/retirees. This has been putting

considerable burden on the Bank

pensioners/retirees and to say the least,

the premium amount has become just

unaffordable and many pensioners/retirees

are not subscribing to the policy because

of the prohibitively costly premium.

Hence, to mitigate the hardship to the

pensioners/retirees the GST component on

the Health Insurance Premium should be

withdrawn.

AIBPARC Circular No. 43/2019 dated

21.06.2019 : AIBPARC addressed a letter

to the Chief Executive Officer, IBA

instruct Banks to pay Gratuity in

conformity with the orders issued by the

Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh in

the case of Madhyanchal Gramin Bank Vs

All India Gramin Bank Pensioners’

Association in WA No.1318/2018 where

the court has ordered that for the

purposes of Calculating Gratuity the “Pay”

would include , “The Basic Pay”

“Stagnation increments” any part of

emoluments which may specifically be

classified as “Pay” (FPA, PQA, Officiating

Allowance etc). The Hon’ble Court has

further held, referring to the definitions of

‘emoluments,’ ‘pay’ and ‘salary’, that a

conjoint reading of definitions

‘emoluments, ‘pay’, and ‘salary’, the last

drawn pay under the regulations would

include Dearness Allowance for

computation of Gratuity in respect of

Officers. AIBPARC has urged upon the IBA

to instruct the Banks to re-calculate

Gratuity by including Dearness Allowance

and pay the higher of the two i.e asper

regulations or as per Payment of Gratuity

Act 1972.

AIBPARC Circular No. 44/2019 dated

21.06.2019 : AIBPARC addresses a letter to

the Chief Executive Officer of IBA to grant

additional Stagnation increment to those

who retired between 01.11.2012 to

30.04.2015. AIBOC has been pursuing this

issue with IBA vide its letters dated

29.11.2018 and 11.04.2019. The Joint Note

signed on 25.05.2015 provided for

stagnation increment for every three

completed years of service after reaching

the maximum of Pay Scale with a further

stipulation that the last of the stagnation

increments will be granted to those who

have completed two years or more after

getting the previous stagnation increment.

It was also stipulated that the increments

which fell due after completion of two

years from the date of grant of previous

stagnation increment will be given with

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effect from 01.05.2015. This stipulation

has denied the benefit one stagnation

increment to those who retired between

the period 01.11.2012 to 30.04.2015.

AIBPARC has urged upon IBA to render

justice to those who retired during the

period 01.11.2012 to 30.04.2015 by

releasing the additional stagnation

increment to which they are entitled. The

benefit has been extended in State Bank of

India and Bank Of India.

CBPRO Letter addressed to the Chief

Executive Officer of IBA on 30.06.2019,

urging upon him to issue a common Health

Insurance Policy for both the serving and

retired employees so as to bring down the

claim ratio and thereby reduce the impact

on the next year’s premium amount. The

Health Insurance Premium for the

pensioners should be at affordable rate.

Alternatively, the Banks should be

permitted to extend medical facility

through the empaneled hospitals, by

collecting a one time lump sum amount

towards medical fee for their life time.

MEETING OF MEMBERS

RAJAHMUNDRY

RAJAHMUNDRY REGION MEETING was held

on 26.06.2019, Dr Karunakar Saka,

Regional Secretary, updated the members

on the latest developments on the issues

of pensioners of Banking Industry.Sri.D V S

Sharma, senior member, explained in

detail how to file IT Return and about

eligible deductions. Sri.A Bapiraju,

explained the importance of making

“WILL” and “NOMINATION”.

MADURAI

CBROA TEAM MADURAI PARTICIPATED IN

DHARNA ORGANISED BY CBPRO ATMADURAI

ON 24.06.2019.

CBPRO Madurai Unit had organized a

Dharna at Madurai on 24.06.2019

demanding Pension Updation,

improvement in family pension and other

demands.Sri.Thomas Franco, former

General Secretary,AIBOC and Co-ordinator,

CBPRO Tamilnadu lead the Dharna. Sri.M N

Manoharan, AGS, CBROA addressed the

huge gathering which was attended by

hundreds of members of our Association.

The Dharna received wide coverage in the

print and electronic media.

UDUPI

OUR UDUPI UNIT HELD THEIR MONTHLY

MEETING ON 26TH JUNE,2019. The Udupi

Team had organized Meetings at Karkala

and Kundapur in the month of May.

Sri.Yogesh Bhat explained in detail about

the present position of the issues of

pensioners, the wage negotiation talks. A

request was made to contribute to the

Legal Fund of CBROA.

CBROA ACTIVITIES / MEETINGS

12

MANGALORE

OUR MANGALORE UNIT HAS BEEN HOLDING

THE MEETING OF MEMBERS EVERY

WEDNESDAY.

The Unit has organized picnic to Kodman

where the participating members will

plant tree saplings. The Unit had organized

similar Vanamohatsava last year also and it

is reported that all the saplings have

survived and grown well. Congratulations

to Shri.B V Pai, Vice President, Sri.B R

Kamath, Chairman, Local Committee,

Sri.Laxmikanth Nayak, our AGS who have

been doing a wonderful job which is

worthy of emulation.

DEHRADUN

MEETING OF MEMBERS AT DEHRADUN ON

03.07.2019.

A Meeting of our Members at Dehradun was

held on 03.07.2019 and Sri.Satish Kumar

Ghai, addressing the members shared the

latest information on the issues of

pensioners. Making a mention about the

ensuing Central Committee Meeting to be

held at Hyderabad, he solicited

suggestions from the members on various

issues being confronted by the retirees of

Banking industry. The Meeting was also

attended by Sri.Vijay Kumar Kathuria.

BHUBANESHWAR

OURBHUBANESHWAR UNIT CELEBRATED

INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY ON 21.06.2019.

International Yoga Day was celebrated at

Pragyan Park, Barmunda, Bhubaneshwar on

21st June,2019. The Yoga Camp was

conducted by Bhubaneshwar Unit of Yoga

Bigyan Sansthan, New Delhi. A large

number of our members under the

leadership of Sri.Gopal Pattanayak, took

part in the Yoga Day celebration.

VELLORE

OUR VELLORE UNIT CONDUCTED A

MEETING OF OUR MEMBERS AT REGIONAL

OFFICE, VELLORE ON 16.06.2019.

Our Vellore unit under the leadership of Sri

Bhupalan, Regional Secretary, held a

Meeting of our Members at R O Vellore.

He explained the various developments on

the issues of pensioners and the efforts

made by CBPRO in finding early solution to

the long pending issues of pensioners of

banking industry. A talk on “Value of

Physical and Mental Health” by

Sri.Peraswamy, an expert on Yoga therapy

and A Professor in World Community

Service Centre. The lecture with two

simple exercises, explained the need for

leading a harmonious life and self-

realisation. Sri.M Karthikeyan, explained in

detail about filing of IT return for 2018-19

and about various exemptions available

under different sections of Income Tax

Act. He also gave a good speech on

Financial Management.

AHMEDABAD

AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT UNIT HELD A

MEETING OF MEMBERS ON 08.06.2019.

Our Ahmedabad Unit held their monthly

Meeting at the Conference Hall of Circle

Office. The Meeting was well attended by

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the members though it was day with

scorching heat. Sri.J G Parmar, C C

Member and P Shah, Regional

Secretary,Addressed the gathering and

explained about the current status of the

issues of the pensioners of Banking

Industry and the continuous campaign

waged by our apex body CBPRO. Issues

affecting our members such as debiting

service charges, non-revision of interest on

OD/VSL against deposits, delay in getting

Form 16 A & B were raised by the members

and Sri.J G Parmar assured to take up the

cases with the concerned branches if there

are any specific cases. The Meeting was

chaired by our veteran colleague Sri.K D

Patel.

NEW FORMULA TO GIVE PUBLIC SECTOR

BANKS FLEXIBILITY TO PAY EMPLOYEES

AS PER PROFITS :

Public Sector Banks are likely to be given

flexibility to pay their employees in

accordance with their profitability and

capacity to absorb higher wage costs, as per

the proposal included in the 11th Bipartite

Wage Settlement talks between the Indian

Banks’ Association and the State run Banks.

“The capacity to pay is an important

ingredient while deciding the amount of

wage increase. A new formula has been

proposed by which there will be a minimum

increase in the wage upto a certain

percentage; over that, it will be market-

driven wage, based on a Bank’s profitability

and paying capacity,” a Senior Executive

was quoted as saying in the Report.

According to the report, the proposal

featured in the discussions between bank

unions and Bank Managements, that

resumed on 21st June and the next round of

talks will be held after the Union Budget.

BAD LOANS OF PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS ARE

DOWN BY 10%

As of 31st March,2019, the total bad loans of

Public Sector Banks stood at Rs.8.06 trillion,

down by a little more than Rs.89,000/- crore

or 10% over the period of a year. A lot of

technical write offs has happened between

March 2018 and March 2019 leading to bad

loans coming down during that period. The

total amount of bad loans written off in

2018-19 was nearly 1.97 trillion. Also the

fresh bad loansrecognised during the course

of the year came down by 45%.

HAVE A COMPLAINT AGAINST BANKS,

NBFCs? RBI LAUNCHES GRIEVANCES

REDRESSAL PORTAL

Making it easier to lodge complaints against

banks and NBFCs the Reserve Bank of India

has launched a new “Complaint Management

System (CMS)” website where anyone can

complain against any of the entities

regulated by RBI.Through this website

complaints can be lodged against RBI

regulated entities with public interface such

BANKING NEWS / DEVELOPMENTS

14

as commercial banks, urban co-operative

Banks, non-banking financial companies

(NBFCs) etc. The CMS is the single window

for lodging complaints against any RBI

regulated entity. All complaints lodged on

CMS would be directed to the appropriate

Office of the Ombudsman/regional Office of

the RBI. RBI Governor has said that the new

Complaint Management System symbolizes

Central Bank’s commitment to improve

customer experience in grievance redressal

process by ensuring timely resolutionof

complaints.

NO BANK HAS POWER TO EMPLOY

BOUNCERS TO RECOVER LOANS

FORCEFULLY : GOVERNMENT

No Bank has the power to employ bouncers

for forceful recovery of loans from

customers, Union Minister of State for

Finance Anurag Thakur said in the Lok

Sabha. The RBI has issued “Guidelines on

Fair Practices Code for Lenders” which are

required to be adopted by Banks, duly

approved by their Boards. The RBI has

directed the Banks to appoint recovery

agents only after proper police verification

and fulfilling other relevant formalities.

With regard to complaints the RBI has

informed that complaints received by it

regarding violation of the said guidelines

and abusive practices followed by banks’

recovery agents are viewed seriously. In

case of breach of the guidelines the RBI

can consider banning the Bank concerned

from engaging recovery agents in a

particular area for a specified period.

DEALING WITH FUGITIVE ECONOMIC

OFFENDERS A STRONG AGENDA : SAYS

INDIA AT G20 SUBMMIT

India has pitched strongly to deal with

fugitive economic offenders and India’s

Prime Minister has flagged the issue at all

global forums. “We strongly put forward

the need to deal with fugitive economic

offenders. It has been a strong agenda, we

have been working on tax evasion,

corruption, economic offences and fugitive

offenders running away from the

country.We have also been very strongly

championing this” said Suresh Prabhu,

addressing a media conference at Osaka

Japan.

14 PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS POST LOSSES

FOR 2 CONSECUTIVE YEARS,

A large number of Public Sector Banks, 14

out of 19, posted consecutive losses in

2018-19 although their pre-provisioning

operating profits were reasonably strong.

The losses resulted from heavy

provisioning requirements for stressed

assets and eroded the bottom-line. The 14

PSUs which included 5 banks, still within

the Prompt Corrective Action framework,

posted an aggregate loss of Rs.74,277.77

crore for FY 2019 against Rs.65,723.52

crore in FY 2018.This loss was in spite of

the state-run entities posting a positive

aggregate PPOP of Rs.63,645.05 crore for

FY 2019 and Rs.62,371.47 crore for FY

2018.Responsible for consecutive net

losses are the spike in provisioning and

contingencies which grew by 3.39% year-

on- year in FY 2019. The 14 Banks saw

provisions grow to Rs.1,65,980.67 crore in

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FY 2019 against Rs.1,60,532.27 crore in FY

2018. However, it is worth noting that

aggregate year-on-year provisioning across

the 19 PSBs actually saw a 11.02 decline,

suggesting Banks could be witnessing an

end to incremental slippages, with most

impaired assets already provided for. Some

Banks including Central Bank of India, are

optimistic about turning profitable going

ahead.

FUNDS TRANSFERS VIA RTGS, NEFT TO BE

CHEAPER FROM 1ST JULY, 2019.

Funds transfer through RTGS, and NEFT

Systems is set to become cheaper from 1st

July,2019 after the RBI decided it would

not impose any charges on such

transactions. The RBI had also asked Banks

to pass on the benefits to customers. With

the move, RBI plans to encourage digital

transactions.

BANK FRAUD TOUCHES UNPRECEDENTED

Rs.71,500/- CRORE IN 2018-19 RBI

REPORT.

Over 6,800 cases of bank fraud involving

an unprecedented Rs.71,500/- crores have

been reported in 2018-19, the Reserve

Bank of India has reported. A total of

5,916 such cases were reported by Banks

in 2017-18 involving Rs.41,167.03 crore, it

said. In the last 11 fiscal years, a total of

53,334 cases of fraud were reported by

Banks involving a massive amount of

Rs.2.05 lakh crore, the Central Bank’s data

said. “Cases of fraud reported to RBI are

required to be filed by banks as criminal

complaints with law enforcement

agencies. The information in respect of

action being taken or already taken is not

readily available,” the Central Bank

said.The data assumes significance as

Banks are grappling with high profile fraud

cases involving absconding billionaire Nirav

Modi, Mehul Chokshi and liquor baron Vijay

Mallya, among others.The large scale fraud

had prompted anti-corruption watchdog

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to do

an analysis and it has come out with a

report on top 100 frauds.

2313 FRAUDS REPORTED IN MUDRA LOAN

ACCOUNTS

As many as 2313 Pradhan Mantri Mudra

Yojana (PMMY) Accounts with the Public

Sector Banks reported instances of fraud

since the financial year 2016-17.Since the

beginning of the Scheme, over 19 crore

loans have been extended under PMMY as

on 21 June,2019. As per the information

compiled from Public Sector Banks,

instances of alleged frauds reported during

the last three years and the current year

so far is in 2313 accounts, said the Finance

Minister in a written reply to the Lok

Sabha. It is also reported that

examination/investigation has been

initiated in all cases to ascertain lapses

and fixing of accountability. Out of 103

delinquent employees identified action has

been taken against 68 as per the extant

guidelines.

NUMBER OF WILFUL DEFAULTERS IN

PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS UP 60 PER CENT

TO 8,582 IN 5 YEARS.

The Union Finance Minister has informed

the Lok Sabha that the number of willful

defaulters in nationalized banks has

increased by over 60 per cent in 5 years

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upto March,2019. By the end of 2014-15

fiscal year, the figure stood at 5,349. For

effective action against willful defaulters

fleeing Indian jurisdiction, the Fugitive

Economic Offenders Act, 2018 has been

enacted to provide for attachment and

confiscation of properties of fugitive

offenders and has disentitled them from

defending any civil claim. The Government

has also advised PSBs to decide on

publishing photographs of willful

defaulters as well as to obtain certified

copy of the passport of

promoters/directors and other authorized

signatories of companies availing loans of

more than 60 crore. Heads of PSBs have

also been empowered to request for

issuance of look out Circulars against

willful defaulters.

RBI’s REVISED FRAMEWORK OFFERS SOME

LEEWAY TO DEFAULTERS.

Even while retaining the right to direct

banks to initiate insolvency proceedings

against specific borrowers, the Reserve

Bank of India has eased the rules for

classifying borrowers as defaulters.

Promoters struggling to repay their loans

now have 30 days before banks classify

them as defaulters and the “one day

default rule” has been done away with.

However, banks need to act fast to find a

resolution else they would have to make

increasingly larger provisions.

The RBI has issued a revised February 12

Circular allowing Banks 30 days before

they recognize incipient stress in cash

credit accounts. The Circular had been

declared “ultra vires” by the Allahabad

High Court in April,2019.In the 30 days,

post the default banks would need to

review the account and decide on a

resolution strategy and may also choose to

initiate legal proceedings for insolvency or

recovery.

UNCLAIMED DEPOSITS IN BANKS RISE BY

27% TO RS.14,578/- CRORE IN 2918

Unclaimed deposits in the Banking system

have witnessed a jump of 26.8 per cent to

Rs.14,578/- crore. State Bank of India

alone had an unclaimed deposit of

Rs.2,156.33 crore at the end of 2018. As

far as unclaimed deposits in Banks are

concerned, in pursuance of the

amendment to the Banking Regulation Act,

1949 and insertion of Section 26A in the

said Act, the RBI has framed the Depositor

Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF)

Scheme, 2014.The balances lying in the

accounts not operated for more than 10

years are transferred to the DEAF. The

amount when claimed by the Depositor

will be paid along with interest. The rate

of interest payable on interest bearing

deposits transferred to the Fund was

initially 4 per cent per annum which has

been changed to 3.5 per cent per annum

with effect from 1 July,2018.

RBI TO FOCUS ON GOVERNANCE REFORMS

IN BANKS, NON-BANKING SECTOR.

The Governor of Reserve Bank of India has

said that, in order to improve functioning

of the Public Sector Banks Boards and to

foster corporate governance, his

endeavour would be to enhance their

quality and stability through further

streamlining appointment process,

succession planning and compensation.

17

Attributing frauds in Banking Sector to

absence of effective controls, the RBI

Governor has said that focus of the Central

Bank in the days will be on Corporate

Governance Reforms in the Banking and

Non-Banking space to improve

transparency and accountability. The set

of corporate governance reforms proposed

by the Governor include, streamlining the

board level appointment process,

development of effective risk management

systems. Creation of pool of independent

directors and setting up mechanism to

evaluate the performance of Senior

functionaries. The Government, the Bank

Board Bureau and the Reserve Bank are

engaged in developing an objective

framework for performance evaluation of

Public Sector Banks. This should redefine

the contours of corporate governance in

PSBs with a focus on transparency,

accountability and efficiency, the

Governor has said.

GOVERNMENT ASKS BANKS, PSUs TO

REVIEW EMPLOYEE RECORDS.

The Central Government has asked the

Banks, PSUs and all its Departments to

review Service Records employees working

under them to weed out corrupt and non-

performing ones. The Personnel Ministry

has written to Secretaries of all Central

Government Departments asking them to

carry out the review of all categories of

employees in “letter and spirit” and to

ensure that decision to retire a public

servant is not arbitrary. The Ministries or

Departments should ensure that the

prescribed procedure like forming of

opinion to retire a Government employee

prematurely in public interest is strictly

adhered to, and that the decision is not

based on collateral grounds. All

Government organizations, including

Public Sector Banks have been asked to

furnish a report to the Ministry in a

prescribed format by 15th Day of each

month starting from July, 2019. The

Central Government had recently retired

15 Officers of Indian Revenue Service

(Customs and Central Excise) in Public

interest. Earlier in the month of

June,2019 12 Officers of Indian Revenue

Service (Income Tax) were also dismissed

from Service. The Central Government is

on a mission to eliminate corruption

from public life and Government

services.

*CBROA Membership Position as on 30.06.2019: Number of New Members enrolled during June, 2019 141 The serial number of the last member enrolled during June , 2019 10395

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PHOTO GALLERY

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