- Crisis In Indian Banking Leads to Work Pressure and Driving Employees To Despair, Commit Extreme Steps
- Toxic work culture on the rise in banks
- 5DaysBanking: Bankers Urgently Demand 2 Days Off Per Week
- Banks see over 15% growth in new credit card addition: RBI data
- Banks Transfer ₹37,176 Crore to RBI’s Depositor Education and Awareness Fund in Last 3 Years
- Calls for Bankers’ Safety Amplified After Video of SBI Branch Manager Attack Goes Viral
- Nainital Bank Faces Privatisation Move Amid Staff Protests
- Whistleblowers Expose Nexus Operating from Three Banks
- Preserving RRBs: AIRRBEA Defends Rural Banking Against AIBOC-AIBEA Merger Proposals
- Union Bank of India’s new directive for weekend work at Retail Loan Points (RLPs) has sparked outrage among bankers
Is Assam Gramin Vikash Bank Heading Towards Merger of Branches Undermining the Objective of RRB Act?
Assam Gramin Vikash Bank’s merger of branches have sparked discontent among employees, citing violations of the RRB Act, 1976. The move allegedly aims to manipulate performance metrics. A mass dharna is announced by the unions for March 17, 2025.
Author: Saurav Kumar
Published: February 17, 2025
Amid the ongoing One State One RRB amalgamation process, Assam Gramin Vikash Bank (AGVB) is reportedly advancing with merger of branches, a move unions claim undermines the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976. The alleged objective is to manipulate Business per Branch performance metrics rather than drive genuine growth. This has sparked widespread discontent among employees.
Unions Oppose the Merger Push
The Assam Gramin Vikash Bank Employees’ Association (AGVBEA), Assam Gramin Vikash Bank Officers’ Association (AGVBOA) and Assam Gramin Vikash Bank Retired Staff Association (AGVRSA) affiliated with AIRRBEA have raised serious concerns over the proposed merger of branches by the bank’s management. In a letter addressed to the Chairman, the coordination committee of unions pointed out that the management has already submitted a Viability Plan to the Department of Financial Services (DFS), which focuses on improving the Business per Branch figure.
The unions have strongly opposed this move, citing the ID Act to justify their resistance. They have called for a Mass Dharna on March 17, 2025, to protest further mergers and declining branch-level banking in AGVB.
AIRRBEA Terms Branch Closure as Retrograde
The AIRRBEA condemned the move, calling it a regressive step. In its letter dated February 15, 2024, the association expressed deep concern over the decision and stated, “It is learnt that, now AGVB management is targeting a retrograde path of closing down/merging some of the branches. As of 2019, AGVB had 472 branches which have now come down to 465 and another 5 branches are in the pipeline for merger.However not a single branch has been opened since 2016, displaying the utter negative orientation of the AGVB management to kill its own branches to glorify their performance.”
Undermining the RRB Act
While unions continue their resistance, an official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Kanal, “AGVB management’s move towards the merger of branches goes against the RRB Act 1976, which endorses only amalgamation and not mergers. It is ready to murder its own branches only to glorify their Performance Report-Cards, manipulating an important parameter in the Viability Plan.”
The unions argue that rather than expanding business through effective banking operations, the management is taking a shortcut by shutting down branches to inflate Business per Branch figures artificially.