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In BSRB's death lies banks' salvation

BS Banking Bureau

After giving the public sector banks (PSBs) freedom to implement voluntary retirement schemes (VRS), they are now given autonomy to recruit employees.

The finance minister Yashwant Sinha today announced the abandonment of Banking Service Recrutiment Boards (BSRBs). This will cut down the time and the cost of recruitment for banks.

The BSRBs were set up about 20 years ago to streamline and have uniform recruitment procedures across all the PSBs. There are 15 BSRBs and a Central Recruitment Board which handle recruitments of only the State Bank group. They all stand to be abolished by July 31, 2001, or earlier as outlined by the finance minister in the budget document.

Henceforth, all the PSBs will have effect all the future recruitments by themselves and this move was aimed at giving them the required autonomy and independence.

K C Choudhary, chief executive and secretary, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), said: "The move to scrap the BSRBs gives the PSBs freedom to have their own appointment and recruitment policies and, of course, this is a welcome step."

He ruled out the possibility of the association evolving any ground rules or standards for banks to undertake recruitments.

R S Hugar, director, Institute of Banking Personnel Selection said: "Both the cost and time taken for recruitment by PSBs need to be brought down. With the abolition of BSRBs, the banks will have to chalk out their own recruitment procedures and standards to attract the best of talents."

Banks, which are seeking to step up efficiency and productivity, will follow the world-wide trend by recruiting fewer people to handle the increasing volume of business transactions. This will lead them to recruit people having requisite technical skills at branch, administrative, controlling and monitoring levels.

"PSBs having a capital adequacy ratio of more than 9 per cent have the autonomy to conduct campus recruitments but they never tapped this avenue seriously. Now that the BSRBs are abandoned, they will have to compete in the open market to get the cream," said a senior official with the Bank of India.

Source: Business Standard

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