Bank employees demand de-linking of Associate Banks from SBI

Ludhiana, August 31, 2014: As per the decision of All India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation, Zonal Conventions are being held in all the Zones. Today, Ludhiana Zone held its Convention at Punjab Trade Centre, Opposite Manju Cinema, Miller Ganj, Ludhiana with the slogan “We Oppose Merger of Banks and demand De-linking of Associate Banks from SBI”.  
Com.Sushil Gautam, Joint Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association and General Secretary, All India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation inaugurated the Convention. Com. Naresh Gaur, Workmen Director on the Board of State Bank of Patiala and Assistant General Secretary, All India State Bank of Patiala Employees Federation addressed the bank employees.  
While addressing the bank employees, leaders of the Federation said that in the recent period, there has been number of statements from the various authorities about the proposals of the Government to merge Public Sector Banks.  They added, we have our stated position that mergers and consolidation of  Banks are not at all warranted in our country.  In a country, where more than 50 crores of people still do not have even a bank account, expanding our Banks to reach all of them is the main task.  In achieving financial inclusion also, our Banks have a leading role to play and for that our Banks have to reach out to more and more people.  Everyone knows that in India, banking has not saturated to warrant consolidation.  We need huge expansion of banking sector and public sector banks can alone be the vanguard in the national task. The Government is also talking of merger of small banks to create big banks so that they will be strong.  We know in western countries including in USA, the so called ‘big banks’ were the ones to face severe problems and Government had to bail them out at the cost of tax-payers. Big or small is not the issue, what we need is strong and vibrant banks which can serve the people effectively.
They added Banking has been transformed from class banking to mass banking. Banking credit has been made available to agriculture and other priority sectors which were neglected earlier. While the achievements and performance of the nationalized banks are not doubt impressive, commendable and appreciable, there is still a long way to go. More than five lacs of villages till do not have bank branches. Large part of savings of the people is still to be tapped and mobilized into the banking system. Bank credit is still not easily available to many common and needy people. Bulk of bank credit is still cornered by the corporates and industries. Priority segments are still not getting their due share in bank credit. Bank credit-GDP ratio is still low in our country. Non-performing loans have assumed alarming proportions. Corporates are able to loot public money by deliberately not repaying the loans.
Adding, they said in the name of remedy and improving the banking system, the successive Governments have been trying to pursue banking reforms measures. All of us know what they want in the name of banking reforms They want to privatize the Banks and hand them over bank to the private sector. They want to merge the Banks in the name of global competition. They are eager to grant banking license to big corporates and business houses. They want to phase out the priority sector lending and dilute the social banking orientation. They want to make the Banks more urban and elite oriented and profit based. They are willing to write off huge loans of the corporates from the hard earned profits of the Banks but want to improve profitability by outsourcing banking jobs on contract basis.  Instead of these retrograde banking reforms, what is needed is to adopt prop-people banking policies.
They asserted that people's money should be utilised for people welfare. National savings should be made available for national development and not allowed for private corporate loot. Public sector banks should be further strengthened and expanded to become vibrant engines for equitable economic growth and broad-based development. More and more branches should be opened in the unbanked rural villages. Associate Banks should be freed from SBI and made independent Banks. More and more credit should be given to agriculture and other priority sectors to help self-reliance, employment, generation, rural development, women empowerment, better infrastructure development. Public sector banks should not be privatised or handed over to private hands. Government's equity capital in PSBs should not be reduced or diluted. Corporate houses should not be given banking license. Efforts to merge banks should not be encourages. Attempts to close down Associate Banks and merge them with SBI should not be proceeded with.  
Com. Ashok Malhan, Vice President, Com. Parveen Moudgil, Chairperson, Com. A.K.Chhibber, Vice President, Com. Parkash Singh, Organising Secretary, Com. Jagan Nath, Regional Secretary, State Bank of Patiala Employees Union and Com. Rakesh Khanna, Zonal Secretary, Associate  Banks Officers’ Association were also present on the occasion.