Today AIBOC TN demonstration @ Chennai, Near State Guest house Chepak.
DEMANDING adequate cash supply to Public Sector BANKS from RBI to reduce the sufferings of General Public and Bank Staff.

MEERUT/BAREILLY/AGRA/PILIBHIT:

Traffic blockades, stone pelting and varying degrees of violence reflected the growing impatience among population in Uttar Pradesh as banks once again couldn't dispense cash on Wednesday.

In Meerut, hundreds of irate customers resorted to violence when a Syndicate Bank branch on Hapur Road announced that it was left with no cash to dispense. Sensing danger, bank staff locked themselves inside the premises as crowd went on rampage damaging vehicles and blocking traffic. They also burnt an effigy of PM Modi.

When police teams arrived on the spot, protesters indulged in stone pelting that left circle officer (Civil Lines) Arvind Kumar injured. Later, police had to resort to mild lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. In Agra too, police had to use lathis to scatter an angry crowd outside Oriental Bank of Commerce's Kagrol branch in Kheragarh block of the district on Wednesday afternoon.

In Doghat village of Baghpat district, the situation turned serious when bank officials had to run out of the branch building and take refuge in a local police station.

In Pilibhit, farmers protested against lack of cash in BoB branches by blocking the highway and burning effigy of the branch manager. They also staged a dharna outside the bank branch. Reports of uproarious scenes were received from other branches of the bank in the district too.

Meerut senior superintendent of police J Ravindra Goud said, "We are on alert for Thursday and have summoned our reserve forces as well. We have made elaborate plans to keep tempers in check. We, too, are hoping that cash arrives in banks by Thursday morning."

Off the black mark

Demonetisation won’t hurt ‘kala dhan’ — it will only damage economic growth.

Written by Ajay Chhibber | Published:November 28, 2016 12:04 am

It might have been better to go after real estate transactions, the movie industry, gold, weddings, election financing and benami transactions.

The Modi government’s hit on black money may go down as one of India’s biggest economic blunders — or greatest achievements. Whether one agrees with the move or not, its implementation has been bungled and the collateral damage is likely to be heavy. Where did this idea originate? Surely the PM’s key economic advisors would not have recommended it.

Demonetisation is usually associated with decrepit economies and hyperinflation, such as Zimbabwe recently and Argentina in the past. The Argentine government demonetised several times in the last century; it even changed its currency’s name from peso to austral, then back to the peso — each time, it further reduced confidence in the currency. Myanmar, Ghana, the former Soviet Union, Nigeria and Zaire also demonetised, leading to devastating economic consequences. In all cases, often done by military dictatorships, demonetisation eroded confidence in the currency. It is therefore surprising that a reform-minded, popular, democratically elected prime minister has resorted to demonetisation. Even Arthakranti, the Pune NGO from where the idea ostensibly emanated, is distancing itself from a ham-handed plan to withdraw 85 per cent of the country’s currency overnight.

There is likely to be a one-time stock effect on those who held black wealth or kala dhan in cash. But much of it sits in gold, real estate or is offshore. Estimates of kala dhan vary; the most commonly accepted is around 25 per cent of GDP. Demonetisation only affects black money — not kala dhan. Estimates from previous raids show cash is 5-6 per cent of kala dhan. Cash is easily transactable but because it’s bulky, it’s hard to hoard too much kala dhan in cash. So, about 1-1.5 per cent of GDP is held in black money. If the government nets half of it through demonetisation, it’s around 0.5-0.75 per cent of GDP. This still leaves the bulk of kala dhan untouched. The flow of resources into kala dhan is unlikely to be affected by demonetisation. In fact, over time, even less will be held in cash, more in gold, real estate or shifted offshore.

The collateral damage from this move could be huge, economically and politically. The poor are already suffering, especially those without easy access to banks, post offices, even information on what to do. More long-lasting damage could be to trade in sectors where much business is conducted in cash — especially the informal sector and rural areas comprising about 40 per cent of GDP. The non-bank financial sector, on which many SMEs rely for short-term finance, has also been hit. As a result, the effect on economic growth in 2016-17 could be as high as one per cent of GDP — which will neutralise the one-time gain from demonetisation.

It is claimed India’s cash to GDP ratio, at around 11-12 per cent of GDP, is too high. But comparisons are made with countries at much higher levels of development, with much smaller, rural, un-banked populations. China has a cash to GDP ratio of around 9.5 per cent of GDP, Germany at 8 per cent of GDP and the US at around 7.5 per cent of GDP. There appears no correlation between corruption and the cash to GDP deposit ratio. Nigeria, widely regarded as one of the most corrupt countries, has a cash to GDP ratio of only 3 per cent of GDP as faith in the currency has eroded.

To weed out black money, more comprehensive reform is needed. It might have been better to go after real estate transactions, the movie industry, gold, weddings, election financing and benami transactions. Without tackling the reasons for black wealth, just demonetising won’t address corruption or eliminate the black economy. The Modi government should focus on achieving genuine economic recovery and ensuring job creation. More poorly conceptualised, badly implemented and moralistic policy prescriptions will take us back to the Hindu growth rate of 3-4 per cent of the 1970s and 1980s. We thought we were done with that.

The writer is distinguished visiting professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, (NIPFP) and former DG, independent evaluation office, government of India.

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Demonetisation: Currency recall could cost India a massive Rs 1.28 lakh crore

The transaction cost of the government's demonetisation exercise is projected to be about Rs 1.28 lakh crore during the 50-day window till December 30, 2016, according to CMIE estimates.

By: FE Online | Updated: November 30, 2016 10:59 AM

12% share of households, that stand in queues to exchange theor old currency notes with new ones, in the total demonetisation transaction cost. They stand to lose Rs 15,000 crore.

The transaction cost of the government’s demonetisation exercise is projected to be about Rs 1.28 lakh crore during the 50-day window till December 30, 2016, according to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimates. According to Mahesh Vyas, the managing director and chief economist of CMIE, the exercise can only be considered worth if the government is able to unearth unaccounted cash worth at least the transaction cost. “If the government succeeds in unearthing even Rs.4 trillion unaccounted cash, then the transaction cost of this exercise would be about 26 per cent. It would be over 43 per cent if the unearthed cash is Rs.3 trillion,” Vyas said in his research note.

Though welcomed by many across the country, the government’s decision to demonetise higher currencies has left many in the lurch and utter state of confusion. The study also warned the impact of the rudimentary step could impact the economy over a longer period.

The cost of Demonetisation:

12% share of households, that stand in queues to exchange theor old currency notes with new ones, in the total demonetisation transaction cost. They stand to lose Rs 15,000 crore.

The government and the RBI are estimated to bear a cost of Rs 16,800 crore. This is largely because of printing of new currency and transportation of new currency to bank branches, ATMs and post offices.

Enterprises stand to pay the biggest price for this transaction, by way of loss of business. According to estimates, companies will witness a direct impact on business in terms of the drop in discretionary spending by households. This alone adds up to more than half of trillion rupees during the 50-day period till the end of December. Enterprise stands to lose Rs 61,500 crore or 48% of the total transaction cost of this exercise of demonetisation.

All estimates are limited to the 50-day window. However, the impact of low liquidity, broken supply chains and loss of confidence in consumers is likely to impact the economy over a longer period. Therefore, the transaction cost of this exercise is likely to be more than the estimated amount.

RBI head must quit for havoc: 

Leader of bank officers’ union

D Thomas Franco, senior vice president of 

All India Bank Officers Confederation,

 says Urjit Patel morally responsible for causing crisis, 

deaths in country.

Written by Arun Janardhanan | Chennai | Updated: November 21, 2016 8:02 am

A TOP leader of India’s largest confederation of bank officers has called for the resignation of RBI governor Urjit Patel, whom he held responsible for causing “havoc” to the economy with the unprepared decision to demonetise currency.
D Thomas Franco, senior vice president, All India Bank Officers Confederation which represents over 2.5 lakh senior officers from all nationalised, old-generation private sector, cooperative and regional rural banks in India, told The Indian Express that it is the RBI governor who should take moral responsibility for the crisis and the deaths of people including 11 bank officers in the last 12 days.

Franco said the government could have taken lessons from other countries and from its own demonetisation drive in 1978, when then RBI governor I G Patel had advised the government against the move. “We all know that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is an economist,” Franco said. “We have economists in RBI to take the right decisions on matters relating to economy and people’s lives. The present governor has utterly failed in his role by taking a crucial economic decision without planning, which has brought havoc to the nation’s economy and lives of the majority.”

500 and 1000 rupees notes

Govt. of India has announced the last breath of Rs 500 & 1000 notes!

Whether this step will eradicate Black-money or not is to be discussed.

Definitely next 10 days will be a testing time for Bank Employees.

Keep your nerves cool.

General public will be in panic ,angry and with all his personal difficulties.

Think twice before uttering a word towards customers and general public.

Don't involve in illegal help to anybody in the name of customer service.

Ready thoroughly all the materials available about the scheme, system and procedure.
Be knowledgeable to reply all the question to be asked by customer.

Towards preparation of Charter of Demands for 11th Bipartite Wage Revision Settlement.

AIBEA : Towards preparation of Charter of Demands for 11th Bipartite Wage Revision Settlement.

CIRCULAR No. 27/176/2016/34                                 October 13, 2016

Dear Comrades,

¨   Towards preparation of Charter of Demands

   for 11^th Bipartite Wage Revision Settlement.

Units are aware that the current 10th Bipartite Settlement’s period will end by October, 2017 and the wage revision under 11^th Bipartite Settlement will become due from 1.11.2017. So far, even though we have been submitting the Charter of Demands earlier, there has always been delay in concluding the Settlement due to various hurdles during the course of negotiations. This has been creating avoidable anxieties and apprehensions in the minds of members and sometimes even leading to casting aspersions on unions as though the delay is deliberate.

Hence, expediting the Settlement in a time bound manner is very imperative. It is good that the Government has advised IBA/Banks to ensure that the wage revision process is initiated early and completed well before the expiry of the current settlement. We welcome this guideline of the Government.

Mandate to IBA:

Based on this guideline, already Banks have started giving mandate to IBA with the approval of their Board. Vijaya Bank, Corporation Bank, etc.  have already given their mandate to IBA.  Few more Banks are in the pipeline.  Our All India Bank-wise Unions are requested to take up the matter with their management for giving mandate to IBA to discuss and finlaise the next wage settlement on their behalf.

Preparation of Charter of Demands:

AIBEA has already set up its Sub-Committee with Com. Lalita Joshi (Joint Secretary of AIBEA) as its Convener for preparation of the Charter of Demands and submission to IBA well in time.  As in the past, we wish to invite suggestions from all our units so that the Charter of Demands reflects the aspirations of the membership and suggestions of our unions.

All our units are requested to discuss the issue at their respective level and submit their suggestions regarding the following aspects:

• New Pay Scales,
• Improvement in DA and other Allowances,
• Leave and holidays,
• Health cover,
• Other service conditions and benefits,
• Duties and responsibilities,
• Disciplinary procedure,
• Improvement in retirement benefits, etc. etc.

All suggestions from our units should be sent to us as under:

                Charter of Demands Sub-Committee,

                All India Bank Employees’ Association,

                Prabhat Niwas, Singapore Plaza Building,

                164, Linghi Chetty Street, Chennai – 600 001

                E mail :      chv.aibea@gmail.com / aibeahq@gmail.com

                Fax  :                044 – 2535 8853 / 4500 2191

Send your suggestions before 15^th November, 2016:  The suggestions, neatly typed, should be sent to us not later than 15^th November, 2016.

Thereafter, these suggestions will be discussed by the Sub-Committee and their recommendations will be considered by the Central Committee of AIBEA for finalization and it would be presented in the ensuing Conference of AIBEA before submission to IBA.

With greetings,

                                                                        Yours Comradely,

Medical Insurance Policy for Retired Employees!

Changed Terms and Conditions in Medical Insurance Policy for Retired Employees.
Circular issued by Andra Bank.
(Common for all Banks)

7th year!

Comrades!

My Blog completed 6 years and entering into the 7th year.

All these years we have deliberated several issues relating to Bank Employees's Service conditions.

It covered two Bi-bipartite Settlements period.

We confronted on several occasions.

But, that makes the deliberations interesting.

Thank you ,  for your support and encouragement all through these years!

Medical insurance

AIBEA Letter to IBA Chariman :
 Medical Insurance Scheme

AIBEA/GS/2016/99                                          28th   September 2016
Chairman,
Indian Banks’ Association                            Mumbai

URGENT/IMPORTANT
Dear Sir,

Reg: Medical Insurance Scheme

Ref: Our letter dated 25-9-2016

Further to our above letter on the issue, we observe that the IBA is advising Banks to take their own decision in respect of the continuation of the Scheme.  The Scheme is a part of the BP Settlement and all Banks are bound by it as per the mandate given by them to IBA.  There cannot be any question of discretion to any Bank to opt out.  IBA has negotiated the scheme on behalf of the member Banks and now the burden of any problem cannot be put on the shoulders of the individual banks.  IBA  must address the problem and take a decision.

The insurance policy will come to an end on 30th September, 2016 and if it is not renewed before that, the policy may not continue and employees will be put into unimaginable hardship.  When it was known that the policy will expire on 30th September, waiting till the end is unfortunate.  Either UIIC is at fault or IBA is responsible.  We regret to note the casual approach in this regard because the scheme covers lacs of employees and their family members.

While the hike in premium is no doubt disproportionate and needs to be sorted out between IBA and UICC, the policy cannot be allowed to be lapsed or discontinued.  All Banks must continue to be covered by the policy by remitting the premium subject to resolving the problem later.

We wish to put IBA on notice that for any discontinuation of the scheme and lack of coverage for the employees, the IBA will be solely responsible and it may result in a serious and immediate industrial unrest.

We seek your immediate attention on top priority within 24 hours.

Thanking you,
 Yours faithfully,

(sd..)

Medical insurance premium

My views:
In theletter it is mentioned as policy for employees only.

Of course the same calculation of claim ratio will play with the new rate for retirees policy premium also.

Let us wait for outcome the new rate.
Hope Retirees association will take up the matter.

Gratuity ceiling

In today's All India Strike,
AIBEA,BEFI,AIBOA,INBEF,INBOC union's
are participated.
AIBOC withdrawn at the last moment.
NCBE,NOBW, NOBO also not participated.

Strike is the only way available in a democratic country to register our opposition against the policies of Govt.,
that affects all section of the society.

Gratuity for Employees under NPS!

There was a talk that employees under NPS scheme are not entitled for Gratuity.

This was mentioned in the initial document of NPS scheme .

Later it was clarified , in parliament, that all employees are eligible to get Gratuity.

(I have posted the speech on Minister at that time)

Even then some section of employees are having doubts over eligibility.

Here is the official written document to confirm the eligibility for Employees under NPS scheme.

Hence Bank employees who joined on or after 01.04.2010 are eligible to get Gratuity as like employees under Old Pension Scheme.

 
 
 
With the continuous struggle and fight by the union's over years, Banks have started recruitment from 2009, after a gap of 15 years.

By these recruitments around 4.5 lac educated youth have entered into the Banking sector in the last 8 years.
(SBI and SBI associate Banks recruitment figures to be added )

From the above table , you may notice that number of recruits is drastically decreased for 2016-17 &2017-18 compared to previous years.

Does it mean that Banks are cautious on recruitment with "merger of Banks" in mind?
(It is quite unfortunate that Indian Bank's numbers are '0' for 2017-2018)

Moreover SBI associate Banks are going to be merged with SBI.
It is everybody's knowledge that there will be no recruitment in united SBI for atleast three years.

Who is at loss because of these developments?

It is unfortunate "educated unemployed youth".

Who is to fight for these youngsters , who are our brothers, sisters, son and daughters.?

It is only we , the existing employees (including the 4.5 lac employees recruited in proceeding years.)

Hence let us participate in the strike,
and make Sep.02nd Strike a grand success.