New Delhi: The State Bank of India (SBI) said on Monday it plans to hire more than 14,000 people this year.
While rejecting media reports about its proposed voluntary retirement plan for more than 30,000 employees as a cost-cutting measure, the bank said it “has been employee-friendly and is expanding its operations and requiring people, which it is evidenced by the fact that the Bank has plans to hire more than 14,000 employees this year ”.
The total employee strength of the country’s largest lender stood at 2.49 lakh at the end of March 2020, compared with 2.57 lakh a year ago.
According to sources, a draft schema for VRS has been prepared and is awaiting board approval.
The proposed scheme, ‘Second Innings Tap VRS-2020’, aims to optimize the bank’s human resources and costs.
“SBI has an existing workforce of around 2.50 lacs and has been at the forefront of serving the needs of employees and devising ways and means to engage and assist employees in their life journey. While our commitment to our valued employees remains unshakable, we are deeply eager to train the country’s unemployed youth, as evidenced by the fact that we are the only bank in the country that has recruited apprentices under the Government of India’s National Apprenticeship Scheme, “said the Bank.
Prior to the merger of the five SBI associates in 2017, the merging subsidiaries had announced VRS for their employees.
In 2001 the bank had also announced VRS with the aim of optimizing human resources.
However, the proposed VRS scheme is not winning favor with the banking unions.
Such a move at a time when the country is in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic reflects the anti-worker attitude of the leadership, said Ashwani Rana, vice president of the National Organization of Bank Workers.
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