Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das is personally looking into the contentious new promotion policy of the central bank, paying heed to popular demand.This is in sync with his commitment to be "acconmodative".
The new policy, which is more stringent and put the bottom 25% of RBI officers in terms of performance "non-promotable", created a stir in the bank with both junior and senior officers protesting against it.Earlier, only the bottom 10% in the performance Bell Curve was not considered for promotion.
The new rule is applicable to junior officers in Grade B to general managers in Grade E.The resentment was so deep that officers in every department organized a signature campaign wanting the governor to look into the issue, people familiar with the matter said.The circular on the new promotion policy issued last week was supposedly to reward merit and good performance.
Deputy governor Viral Acharya has been in charge of the human resource development.Sources in RBI said that Governor Das held a closed-door meeting with representatives of officers union on Thursday following the signature campaign where deputy governor Acharya or any other senior official was not present.The central bank did not respond to a mail seeking update on the issue.
ET was the first to report that officers expressed their unhappiness over the circular on Tuesday.The Bell Curve was introduced in RBI by former governor Raghuram Rajan.
There was huge resentment across all levels against the Bell Curve system as many times in the past, deserving candidates could not be adequately rewarded for three consecutive years as they were forced out to fit others in the Bell Curve.Such officers lost another two years as cooling-off period in promotion.
The 25% would mean more deserving people may be left out, an RBI official said.The officers have been protesting against the move since it was notified on Friday (LAST FRI).
It reached its peak on Tuesday when officers gathered at the lobby of the RBIs headquarters in Mumbai after lunch and remained there till evening.