No lobbying, ‘allotment’ on the basis of merit-cum-performance and enlarging the employment pool to include the private sector are some key initiatives taken by the Centre for top-level recruitments in public sector banks, the personnel ministry has said.
The two big issues that Indian public sector banks grapple with are high non-performing assets (NPAs) and inadequate systemic safeguards, the ministry said in a booklet titled ‘3 years of sustained HR initiatives: Foundation for a New India’, released before Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently.
The Central Government, it said, has introduced “far reaching changes” in the appointments of top officials to solve many problems faced by nationalised banks. In a chapter titled “Reforms in banks: performance through leadership”, the report said there is now ‘no lobbying’. The reforms also include "independent professional body for selection", "pool enlarged by opening to private sector", "objective and transparent selection" and "allotment on the basis of merit-cum-performance".
According to the ministry, a lot of the problems in the sector "had to do with the management leadership, which has been under scrutiny for disbursement of poor-quality loans and the possibility of being influenced by interested stakeholders". Public sector banks need leaders -- chairmen, managing directors, board members -- who can not only clean up the books but also introduce transparent processes and ensure that business decisions are taken solely on merit so as to make these banks profitable in a world where private competition is fast eating into their market share, it said.