September 28, 2020 4:35:26 am
The national banking regulator, RBI, stated that its Rs 7.34 crore was for “employee contribution”.
It is NOT just a wide range of central educational institutions, at least seven public sector banks, seven other leading financial and insurance institutions, and the RBI, have together contributed Rs 204.75 crore of their staff salaries to the Assistance and Help to the Citizen of the Prime Minister in Emergencies. Situation Fund (PM CARES), RTI records accessed by The Indian Express program.
Of these, records show, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and National Housing Bank also contributed more than Rs 144.5 crore separately from their Corporate Social Responsibility allocation ( RSC) and other provisions.
This brings the total contribution of the 15 banks and government institutions that responded to RTI inquiries from The Indian Express to Rs 349.25 crore.
The Prime Minister’s Office, which administers the fund, has refused to provide details of the contributions received, saying that PM CARES “is not a public authority under the… RTI Act.”
Topping the list of public sector banks and institutions that responded to RTI’s inquiries (see chart), LIC alone awarded Rs 113.63 million to PM CARES in various categories – Rs 8.64 million from employee salaries. staff, Rs 100 crore under “Corporate Communication” and Rs 5 crore under “Golden Jubilee Foundation”.
Records show that LIC’s contribution of Rs 100 crore was made on March 31; Rs 5 crore was also donated in March, but without a date specified in the reply.
SBI led the seven public banks that responded to RTI inquiries with a contribution of more than Rs 107.95 million; the first installment of 100 million rupees was paid on March 31. In its response, SBI, which is the largest banker in the country, stated that its All contribution was from the salaries of its employees.
The national banking regulator, RBI, declared that its 7.34 million rupees came from “employee contribution”.
PM CARES was created on March 28 this year following the Covid outbreak and had a corpus of Rs 3,076.62 crore as of March 31, of which Rs 3,075.85 crore is listed as “voluntary contributions” according to its official Web site.
On August 19, The Indian Express reported that 38 USPs used their CSR funds to collectively contribute more than Rs 2,105 crore. Five days ago, this newspaper reported that various central educational institutions and regulators contributed 21.81 million rupees in the form of “voluntary contributions” from the salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff, and of students and retirees.
RTI responses received by The Indian Express from banks and financial institutions detailing their contributions of staff salaries and related benefits show:
* Canara Bank did not provide any details other than indicating that its 15.53 million rupees was the “total amount contributed”.
* Union Bank of India (Rs 14.81 crore): Charging for one day of privileged leave for employees.
* Central Bank of India (Rs 11.89 crore): Two-day privileged leave charge for employees.
* Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 5 crore): payment of one day’s salary and two days of leave for employees.
* SIDBI, Small Industry Development Bank of India, (Rs 80 lakh): “voluntary contribution of salary” from employees.
* GIC (Rs 14.51 lakh): “one day salary” of employees.
* IRDAI, Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority, (Rs 16.08 lakh): “voluntary contribution” from employees.
* NABARD, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, (Rs 9.04 crore): salaries of “employees and retired employees”.
* National Housing Bank (Rs 3.82 lakh): “employee contribution”.
Aside from LIC, those who also contributed from sources other than staff salaries include: GIC with Rs 22.8 crore of CSR; SIDBI with Rs 14.2 crore of CSR; and the National Housing Bank with Rs 2.5 crore of CSR.
RTI inquiries were sent in August and responses were received this month. EXIM Bank, which is wholly owned by the government, did not provide any details upon RTI’s request, but its annual report for 2019-20 indicates that it contributed Rs 1 crore to the fund.
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