Bank employees to get 17% wage hike, follow 5-day work week

Employee unions of public sector banks and the Indian Banks' Association, the joint forum of stat-run banks, have reached an agreement under which employees will get a 17 per cent increase in monthly salaries and follow a 5-day work week, keeping all Saturdays and Sundays as holidays.

The agreement, which takes effect from 1 November 2023, will benefit eight lakh bank employees and cost PSU banks a combined Rs8,284 crore annually.

Under the revised pay scale, 8088 points of the existing dearness allowance has been merged with basic pay, leaving the DA component at 30.38 per cent of revised basic pay.

Under the revised structure, the pay scales range from Rs48,480 on the lowest pay scale to Rs1,73,860 at the upper end of the highest pay scale, with the scales in the I to VII levels.

A joint declaration issued by IBA and the employees unions stated that the index for DA has been shifted from 1960 = 100 to 2016 = 100 series resulting in shifting the conversion factor from 0.06 to 0.99 and thereby enhancing available dearness allowance.

As per the joint declaration, bank officials who have completed CAIIB (CAIIB Part-II) will be eligible for two increments with effect from 1 November 2022.

The agreement also provides for a monthly ex-gratia amount in addition to the pension or family pension for eligible retired employees of public sector banks.

This will apply to pensioners of all PSU banks, including SBI, who are entitled to pension benefits on or before 31 October 2022.

Employees can accumulate accrued privilege leave of up to 255 days and monetize these upon retirement or in the event of an employee's demise during service.

Additionally, female employees will have the privilege of availing one sick leave day per month without producing a medical certificate.