Letter to BS: Recap will help, but public sector banks need wider reforms

Kudos to the editorial, “The missing ‘R’ (July 11). The proposed fresh recapitalisation of Rs 70,000 crore will help public sector banks (PSBs) but as the editorial rightly pointed out, to pull the PSBs out of the rut, a much wider set of reforms are required to be implemented. A major overhaul is needed on the management of human resources. It would be ideal to make wage negotiations bank specific. The staff members of well managed and more revenue generating banks need to be paid better than the laggards. 

The work culture in PSBs needs some overhaul vis-a-vis the new generation private sector banks. Unless there is a realisation among the bank staff about the need for a proactive customer service, PSBs will continue to lose good customers to nimble and on-the-ball new generation banks. 

Consolidation of PSBs through mergers needs to be paced up. There will be angst amongst many staff members as they get pushed away from their comfort zones. But we need to move with the times and accept the new reality. No amount of recapitalisation will help unless the culture in these banks undergoes a sea change. 

K V Premraj, Mumbai

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