Courtesy- RBI Website
Address by Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, at the 27th National Conference of the AIBEA at Kochi on February 9, 2013
Com. Rajen Nagar, President and Com. C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), Shri P. Sainath, Rural Affairs Editor, The Hindu, Prof. Victor Louis Anthuvan, other office bearers of the AIBEA, Office bearers and delegates from other trade union bodies, guest delegates from abroad and dear friends. I am extremely happy to be here today in Kochi in the “God’s Own Country” to address this gathering of fellow bankers at this National Seminar organized as part of the 27th National Conference of the AIBEA. The fact that the AIBEA is one of the oldest and widely respected associations of Bank employees is made clear by the fact that Deputy Governor of RBI could not say no to a call from Mr. Venkatachalam, your General Secretary.
2. Having said that, I would admit that I have come here with a vested interest. Vested interest in the sense that the subject you have selected for this seminar is very close to my heart; to the hearts of the senior management in the Reserve Bank of India. Also, being in-charge of the administration and human resource in the Reserve Bank of India, which is the regulator of the entire banking system in India, we want a responsible and strong trade union system in the banks because we feel that strong trade unions are a pre-condition for strong managements in the banks. I will come back to this issue a little later.
3. It is, indeed, very heartening to note that the AIBEA has organized this conference on the theme “Meeting the Challenges of the Decade”. In fact, this could very well have been titled “Meeting the Challenges of the Century”. The banking system is unlikely to face the kind of challenges that it has been facing for the last 4 -5 years. The challenges for the banking and financial sector are, indeed, gargantuan as is revealed by a recent survey conducted by research firm StrategyOne, across the globe. The interview based survey involving some 30,000 people in 25 countries has identified the financial services and banking sectors as the world’s least-trusted industry for the second year in a row. The financial crisis has dealt such a blow to the people that they have lost faith in the banking system. Globally, the basic challenge for the industry at the present juncture is, therefore, to restore the credibility and trust that the banking and finance profession enjoyed before the onset of the Financial Crisis. I hope the Conference is focusing on these challenges that the banking industry currently faces and is critically deliberating on the role that the bank employees, as the most important stakeholder, can play in managing them. I am sure that discussions held during these four days would trigger new thought processes and help chalk out future course of action for the employees to make the Indian banking system not just more efficient and resilient but also socially more relevant.
Role of the Trade Unions
4. Over the years, the trade union movement has played a very important role. Across the globe, they have not only been instrumental in preventing exploitation of the employees but have also brought dignity to labour. Not only this, the unions also play a very important role in bringing equity and social justice into the system and preventing managements from inflicting exploitative practices, not only on the employees but also on the society at large.
