It is really perturbing to note that every bank is crazy and fast in opening of more and more branches in far flung villages, small towns and big towns to please ministers even when they do not have enough manpower. They do not have quality manpower who can handle bank's job safely and to the satisfaction of customers.
Banks do not have manpower enough to man these newly opened branches. They transfer one or two persons from existing branches which not only adversely affects the working capacity of existing branches but also creates bad image of newly opened branches where one or two perwon fail to satisfy needs of variety of customers in towns. In rural areas they have to sit idle because there are no enough number of customers .
Both ways banks have to suffer, staff have to suffer and customers have to suffer. It is only Ministers and politicians who are pleased , but ultimately they too fail to achieve their task of gain in vote bank.
Banks do not have manpower enough to man these newly opened branches. They transfer one or two persons from existing branches which not only adversely affects the working capacity of existing branches but also creates bad image of newly opened branches where one or two perwon fail to satisfy needs of variety of customers in towns. In rural areas they have to sit idle because there are no enough number of customers .
Both ways banks have to suffer, staff have to suffer and customers have to suffer. It is only Ministers and politicians who are pleased , but ultimately they too fail to achieve their task of gain in vote bank.
Not only this , due to acute shortage of manpower in higher scale, banks are constrained to promote inefficient officers to higher scale who take charge of these branches.Bank thus without any fear and without any hesitation are giving faster and faster promotion to officers who do not possess adequate knowledge and experience.
Inexperienced officers are posted as Branch Head or assigned the duty of customer related and credit related risky operation and allowed to work online on computers. As a result ,cases of bad debts and that of fraud are on sharp rise during last five to ten years and going beyond the control of management of public sector banks. Still banks appears to be careless and painless.
Inspite of growing mess in all banks they do not recruit adequate number of additional fresh youth to fill the manpower gap in branches. Inefficient persons are posted in branches without proper training and proper skill .Branches are opened by one or two employees just to make record in opening of new branches. Safety of public fund is no more their concern. Officers who have hardly worked in branches for a year or two and who are not well versed with intricacies of bank job and who are not aware of inherent risk of fraud and advances going bad are being made Branch head or Regional Head.
It is pity that during eighties and nineties, officers in scale I used to get promotion to scale II in ten to 15 years but during last few years officers with hardly ten years of experience are made scale IV or scale V despite the fact that these officers do not possess enough banking skill. To add fuel to fire Banks want young officers to man these branches despite the fact that several senior officers are languishing in invisible corners.
It is further ironical , disheartening , frustrating and dangerous that unemployed youth who appeared for the examination conducted by IBPS for recruiting clerks and officers for various government run banks and who passed the required test have not been given appointment letter despite lapse of a year and more. Due to such callous and casual approach of top officials of banks, not only youth are getting frustrated due to inordinate delay in getting job letter after passing the test conducted by IBPS , but public money deposited in these banks are also subjected to credit risk, operational risk and reputation risk.
It is also possible that many bank do not have enough paying capacity and their profitability is at risk due to rise in manpower but not proportionate rise in business.But branch expansion without proper planning is simply inviting greater danger of loss due to greater volume of fraud and that of bad assets.
It is also possible that many bank do not have enough paying capacity and their profitability is at risk due to rise in manpower but not proportionate rise in business.But branch expansion without proper planning is simply inviting greater danger of loss due to greater volume of fraud and that of bad assets.
Politicians take credit that they have created employment opportunities in banks and promised several times to give employment to lac or to millions. But it is painful that neither these politicians , nor RBI or GOI take cognizance of delay in giving job letter to those who have already passed the required test and consequent risk to public money parked in these banks or risk arising due to rise in bad debts.
When banks suffer loss due to rise in bad debts or rise in fraud cases, management of banks and Ministry of Finances should be held responsible , accountable and punishable who failed to exercise their duty of planning manpower in unison with branch expansion and plan profitability accordingly.
It is also a sin that banks under public sector are booking profit by saving expenses on manpower. They do not give respectable pay hike to working employees and they do not recruit fresh youth to take care of bank and more clearly they are willfully allowing banks to move from bad to worse and Government is silent spectator . Rather they are also adding fuel to fire by adivisng more and more branch expansion and opening of more and more ATMS without thinking of probable risk by such insane, unwise and mad expanion.
To further add fuel to fire , existing employees in banks are subjected to work late and to work on Sundays and holidays due to which they are also getting frustrated and becoming victim of various diseases.
To further add fuel to fire , existing employees in banks are subjected to work late and to work on Sundays and holidays due to which they are also getting frustrated and becoming victim of various diseases.
Bank branch expansion at a decade's high
State-run and private sector banks together open 7,300 branches in 2013-Business Standard 26.12.2013
The growing popularity of alternative banking channels has failed to discourage lenders from setting up brick-and-mortar branches across the country.
State-run and private sector banks have opened a little more than 7,300 branches during calendar year 2013. This is the highest yearly number in the past decade.
Bangalore-based Canara Bank set up 723 branches in 2013, while State Bank of India, the largest lender, opened 627. Among private lenders, ICICI opened the highest number, 587.
The majority of branches were opened in non-metropolitan locations, as lenders focused on expanding the reach in unbanked and under-banked regions. HDFC Bank, the second largest private lender, opened 333 of its 339 new branches in rural and semi-urban centres. About 80 per cent of Canara Bank's new branches were outside metro and urban locations.
State-run and private sector banks have opened a little more than 7,300 branches during calendar year 2013. This is the highest yearly number in the past decade.
Bangalore-based Canara Bank set up 723 branches in 2013, while State Bank of India, the largest lender, opened 627. Among private lenders, ICICI opened the highest number, 587.
The majority of branches were opened in non-metropolitan locations, as lenders focused on expanding the reach in unbanked and under-banked regions. HDFC Bank, the second largest private lender, opened 333 of its 339 new branches in rural and semi-urban centres. About 80 per cent of Canara Bank's new branches were outside metro and urban locations.
“There is a need to improve our geographical reach. Hence, banks are trying to cover areas where they were not present earlier. We cannot service the rural population with alternate banking channels like mobile and internet banking. We need to have physical presence and, therefore, are expanding our presence in deep geographies,” M Narendra, chairman and managing director of Indian Overseas Bank, told Business Standard. The Chennai-based state-run lender set up 324 new branches in 2013, of which 215 were in rural and semi-urban locations.
Bankers say the government's financial inclusion programme that aims to provide banking services across 625,000 villages has also led to the increase in numbers of rural and semi-urban branches. “There are still a little over 300,000 villages that do not get banking services. Banks are expected to have presence across these villages in the next two and a half years. Hence, banks will continue to open more branches in these areas for the next few years,” said Shubhalakshmi Panse, chairperson and managing director of Allahabad Bank.
Bankers say the government's financial inclusion programme that aims to provide banking services across 625,000 villages has also led to the increase in numbers of rural and semi-urban branches. “There are still a little over 300,000 villages that do not get banking services. Banks are expected to have presence across these villages in the next two and a half years. Hence, banks will continue to open more branches in these areas for the next few years,” said Shubhalakshmi Panse, chairperson and managing director of Allahabad Bank.
Bankers said the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to relax the branch licensing norm had aided their expansion. Earlier this year, the banking regulator had relaxed the branch authorisation policy for Indian banks. It allowed lenders to freely open branches in tier-1 to tier-6 centres without prior permission from the central bank, subject to certain conditions.
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