With the festive season here and Diwali gifts on the horizon, public sector banks State Bank of India (SBI) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) are considering gifts to staff worth Rs 1,000 crore, Mint reported quoting IANS sources.
The outgoing costs for SBI’s 257,000 employees would be Rs 25.7 crore.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.
The gift packages will consist of sweets, dry fruits, and chocolates as these PSBs’ competent authorities have issued directions against monetary gifts. This is the first time OBC staff will receive Diwali gifts.
The expenditure for the same at SBI will be debited from the respective offices and then refunded from the Staff Welfare Fund 2019-20, when allocated.
Swarup Kumar Saha, General Manager – Human Resource Development at OBC, mentioned the improved financial performance during Q2FY19-20 in a circular to branches and offices. The circular added that Diwali expense would be funded from Charges General (Staff Welfare).
The bank posted a net profit of Rs 126 crore, a 23.53 percent growth from the previous year. It also logged a 20.99 percent jump in profits at Rs 1,176 crore.
However, there are questions being raised on state-run banks giving gifts only during Diwali while they have employees of various faiths.
A DMK spokesperson and Member of Parliament TKS Elangovan told IANS: "These banks are owned by the government of India where people of different religions work. The employees should be given the option of choosing the festival for which he would accept the gift."
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