State Bank offers golden handshake; 204 SBT branches to close down in Kerala

Ahead of the proposed merger, a special board meeting of State Bank of India and its associate banks have decided to implement a Voluntary Retirement Scheme for its employees. 

Quoting a senior official, BusinessLine reports that the scheme offers retirement option to those who complete 20 years of service or have attained 55 years of age. They will be paid the salary for the period of remaining service with a cap of 30 months. 

It is learned that State Bank is planning to cut short the workforce before the merger which would help the bank to curb staff cost escalation.

As per the new decision there will be a reduction of 25 percent of staff strength in the SBT branches in Kerala, which means, among 852 SBT branches, 204 will be closed down. 

The merger is likely to be completed by the fourth quarter of the current financial year, and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad will be finally integrated to State Bank of India.

SBI has nearly 2.02 lakh employees while the associate banks have a staff strength of 70,000. 

• State Bank of India
• State Bank of Travancore
• VRS scheme