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Saurashtra Gramin Bank Employees Face SBI Life Cross-selling Pressure
Saurashtra Gramin Bank employees face mounting pressure under SBI’s aggressive cross-selling targets for SBI Life Insurance. Intensified workloads and frequent monitoring spark concerns over employee well-being and rural banking priorities.
Author: Saurav Kumar
Published: December 9, 2024
The employees of Saurashtra Gramin Bank (SGB), a Regional Rural Bank (RRB) sponsored by the State Bank of India (SBI), are grappling with an intensified workload as SBI imposes aggressive cross-selling targets for SBI Life Insurance. Under its League of Champions campaign, SBI has set ambitious targets across its regional branches, pressuring staff to meet these benchmarks within a tight window from November 25 to December 10, 2024.
As per the campaign data, a total of ₹23.75 lakhs for CGM Trophy and ₹26.17 lakhs for MD Trophy have been targeted across multiple RRBs, with specific allocations for Saurashtra Gramin Bank branches. The messages reveal the November-December budget and branch-wise targets ranging between ₹8 to ₹12 lakhs, categorised under Chairman, General Manager (GM), and Regional Manager (RM) levels. Employees are directed to achieve these numbers under strict monitoring and recurring video calls, such as those scheduled for rural branches of SBI Life and Mudra Loan initiatives.
Mounting Target Pressure
Amid rising concerns of undue pressure on banking staff, SGB scheduled a “Login Day” on November 27, 2024, mandating each branch to achieve a target of ₹30,000 in SBI Life insurance premiums. A SGB employee requesting anonymity told Kanal, “Regional targets of SGB have been set even higher at ₹15 lakh, with specific clusters like Rajkot and Surendranagar actively monitored through frequent virtual conferences.”
He further added, “Branch managers have been advised to attend meetings on financial inclusion and cross-selling several times a week, often after regular banking hours, further straining their work-life balance. The discontent is growing louder internally against the growing menace of target-oriented banking policies in rural areas.”
The scenario reflects a broader trend of sponsor banks, like SBI, exerting undue influence on RRBs to prioritise third-party product cross-selling over their core mandate of financial inclusion in rural areas.
Cross Selling Push
In recent months, employees of SBI-sponsored Andhra Pradesh Grameena Bank and Telangana Grameena Bank have raised concerns over the mounting pressure to achieve cross-selling targets. The aggressive push for cross-selling by SBI has been a long-standing issue highlighted by AIRRBEA-affiliated unions across SBI-sponsored RRBs.
Amid rising discontent, RRB employees are increasingly voicing their concerns about the growing commercialisation of RRB operations. They are urging for a more balanced approach that aligns performance targets with sustainable and employee-friendly banking practices.