Over 30K employees eligible under SBI’s voluntary retirement scheme

Mumbai: In a bid to optimise human resources and costs, the State Bank of India has planned a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS), a report read. It is known that as many as 30,190 employees will be eligible under this scheme.

According to sources, a draft scheme for VRS has been prepared and board approval is awaited. The scheme will be opened to all permanent officers and staff who have put in 25 years of service or completed 55 years of age on the cut-off date.

“The staff member whose request for VRS is accepted will be paid an ex-gratia amounting 50% of salary for the residual period of service (up to the date of superannuation), subject to a maximum of 18 months’ drawn salary,” the bank said. Other benefits like gratuity, pension, provident and medical benefits will be given to employees seeking VRS. A staff member retired under the scheme will be eligible for engagement or re-employment in the bank after a cooling-off period of two years from the date of retirement, the bank added.

A total of 11,565 officers and 18,625 staff will be able to avail the SBI VRS scheme. The bank expects to save around ₹2,170.85 crore, if 30% of the eligible employees decide to go for the new scheme.

Currently, SBI, which is the country’s largest lender, has an employee strength of over 2.49 lakh at the end of March 2020, as compared to 2.57 lakh last year.