The 27 public sector banks had a combined workforce of 7.2 lakh employees at the end of March 2007 with 2.5 lakh employees belonging to the officer cadre and 4.7 lakh clerks and sub-staff. Of the 74,596 public sector bank employees to retire by March 2010, 44 per cent are officers, 35 per cent clerks and the remaining belong to the sub-staff.
While 13 per cent of the 2.5 lakh officers currently employed would retire over the next three years, only 8.7 per cent of the 4.7 lakh clerks and sub-staff would reach the end of their service by then.
The departure of a large number of officers for greener pastures, has only added to the woes of these banks. A K Khandelwal, chairman and managing director, Bank of Baroda, had estimated that public sector banks were losing 1,000 officers every year to their private and foreign counterparts.
The public sector banks follow an industry-wide norm brokered by the IBA, while salaries offered by the private and foreign banks include a significant variable component linked to performance. The resulting salary differential is as high as 200-400 per cent.
