Post Merger: SBI does the impossible, unions praise management

India's biggest bank by asset State Bank of India (SBI) has managed to keep any form of major protest at bay despite rationalising 716 offices and transferring several thousands of its employees as part of its merger programme with its six associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

There have been no major complaints of victimisation or partiality from the normally vocal bankers, the Economic Times reported.

This comes after all major unions had strongly opposed the merger of six other nationalised banks with SBI and were wary of a step-motherly treatment of the migrating staff at the hands of the SBI management.

Around 70,000 employees (around 40,000 Class III and IV and around 30,000 officers) joined SBI from SBBJ (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur), SBM (State Bank of Mysore), SBT (State Bank of Travancore), SBP (State Bank of Patiala) and SBH (State Bank of Hyderabad) and Bharatiya Mahila Bank.

"By and large, the staff redeployment in SBI has been smooth. However, there seem to be complaints of vindictive transfers in Kerala which the management must address satisfactorily," CH.Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA), told IANS.

Another union leader explained that the reason behind this was the management's methodical approach to the exercise.

"The management did not deviate from the transfer policies that were signed between the management and the unions," Sanjeev Kumar Bandlish, General Secretary, All India State Bank of India Staff Federation (AISBISF), told IANS.

The migrating employees were even asked for their choice of posting, union leaders said. This was instrumental reducing tension in the minds of incoming employees to a large extent.

Even the management's estimate was close to the actual figures for employees opting for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme.

Last week, SBI reported 20.45 percent decline in its net profit for the quarter ended June 30 as bad loans spiked. The bank's net profit stood at Rs 2,005 crore in the first quarter of 2018 fiscal as against Rs 2,520 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.