31 Mar : Conceding to the demand from officials of public sector undertakings, the government on Monday announced a further hike of up to 20 percent in pay packets of about four lakh executives.
The improvement is over and above the pay package notified by the government in November last year, which prompted officers, particularly in the oil sector, to take to the streets.
The decision for bettering the pay packages just ahead of the general elections was taken after government took the clearance from the Election Commission.
Asked about the total benefits to the officers and non-unionised supervisory staff after the revision, Home Minister P Chidambaram, who briefed on Cabinet decisions, said it would depend on individual PSUs.
Excluding superannuation benefits, on a basic salary of Rs 100 an officer will now draw Rs 370.48 as against Rs 351.12 that was approved last year.
If superannuation benefit is added, the emoluments on a basic salary of Rs 100 would become Rs 532.65 against Rs 504.70 on the scale based on the Jaganadha Rao Committee recommendations. The total increase taking into account allowances and HRA would be 19.37 percent.
The new scales have been cleared on the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers, headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram, which revisited the pay revision after the strike by oil PSU officers in January. (RB-30/03)
Cabinet approves capital restructuring of UBI
The government approved the restructuring of state-owned United Bank of India’s capital on Monday, which includes reduction in paid-up equity by over 80 per cent to improve its financial parameters.
Besides, the government will infuse a sum of Rs 800 crore into the bank to enable it to provide more capital to productive sectors.
The paid-up equity capital of the bank will be reduced to Rs 266.43 crore, Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters on Monday after a Cabinet meeting which took this decision.
The government will take back excess paid-up capital of Rs 1,266 crore and simultaneously will infuse this amount in the capital reserves of the bank.
Earlier in 2006, the Cabinet allowed United Bank to write off its accumulated losses of Rs 278.44 crore against the capital of Rs 1,810.87 crore.