FinMin requests home, health ministries to vaccinate bank staff on priority

600 bank personnel died due to Covid-19 till December, IBA said while requesting vaccination

Following repeated appeals from bankers for vaccination since the shots were rolled out in January, the finance ministry has now requested the home ministry and the health ministry for vaccination of all the 1.35 million staff in the banking sector irrespective of age, and also employees of National Payments Corporation of India.

The finance ministry has requested the ministry of home affairs and the ministry of health and family welfare to consider issuing instructions enabling Covid vaccine on a priority basis for bank and NPCI employees who are on the frontline and dealing with customer and critical infrastructure for seamless banking and payment system.

“This will go a long way in assuring them about the safety of themselves and their families and will boost their morale in continuing to provide their best services to their customers,” the office memorandum of the finance ministry said.

The office memorandum, a copy of which has been reviewed by Business Standard, noted that the bank employees played a critical role over the past year in ensuring that bank branches remain open and functional and provided a complete suite of banking services to their customers.

“This was despite the issue of mobility of bank staff to their place of work and issues in adhering to social distancing norms and other precautions. Their effort was even more important in view of the disbursal and withdrawal of benefits transferred by the government to beneficiaries under PM-GKY [Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana], and bank employees ensured that the beneficiaries did not face any difficulties in withdrawing their benefits,” it said. The ministry also appreciated the role of NPCI staff in ensuring digital channels were made available seamlessly to customers with the reliance on such mode of increased manifold in recent times.

The request from the finance ministry to vaccinate all the bank employees comes at a time when Covid-19 infections are surging once again with several states imposing restriction on movement and activities.

Last year after the pandemic broke out, bank branches continued to function as banking was considered as essential service and their staff as frontline workers by the Centre.

“Unfortunately, in their efforts to provide continues service, many bank officials have lost their lives,” the finance ministry said.

The Indian Banks’ Association which had requested the government for vaccinating bank employees in early February, said 600 bank staff lost their lives till December 31, 2020.

“As per data of PSBs, private and foreign bank, small finance bank and payments bank, as of December 31, 2020, we have lost around 600 bank employees. Also, the data clearly shows that the percentage of death in the banking industry is even higher in comparison of the entire country,” the IBA letter to finance ministry said.

In terms of percentage, IBA said total deaths due to Covid for the banking industry was 0.04% of total bank staff which is 13.5 lakh while for the country it was 0.01% of the population. “We therefore request you to kindly include the bank employees in this priority list for free vaccination along with other frontline workers,” the IBA letter said.

Apart from IBA, HDFC Bank and NPCI had also requested the finance ministry for vaccinating their employees on a priority basis.

“As you may know the bank employees too have been braving all odds and delivering banking services to customers across the country during the pandemic,” HDFC Bank said in a letter to the finance ministry.

“Some of this effort has come at a personal cost since the lives of both staff members and their families have been lost due to the virus,” HDFC Bank added while requesting priority for vaccinating bank employees.

The finance ministry also noted the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs on management of Covid 19 pandemic has placed on record the good work done by the banking sector right from the beginning of the pandemic and recognised as Covid 19 warriors.