SBI women staff get 2-yr sabbatical for children’s studies, parents’ care
SBI is likely to extend this facility to single male parents as well. 'We have brought in a two-year sabbatical for our women staff in case they want to take it for any purposes like education of their children, taking care of the elderly parents/in-laws,' Arundhati Bhattacharya, the first woman to head SBI said.
When asked if the scheme, which she had announced immediately after taking over last October, is in place, she replied in the affirmative. Many private sector organisations, including banks like ICICI Bank, have such provisions in place, but a state-run bank implementing such a provision is probably new. Bhattacharya said the bank was planning to extend the sabbatical leave to single-male parents as well, as the bank needs to be sensitive to their special needs.
'At this point we have not done that. But down the line, we might look at single-parents, as well as males who are single-parents. They also need that kind of sensitivity and we should look at that,' she said. Bhattacharya, who had implemented a system of sabbaticals of six years for women during her previous stint as the head of SBI's investment banking subsidiary SBI Caps, said she had to limit it two years at the bank in line with the policies followed by the government.
'At SBI Caps, we had done it for a longer period of time. Here, we have done it for two years mainly because the government also has it for two years,' she said. She said the bank had also started a special home loan product for women borrowers which offers a discounted rate, and is looking at more such initiatives. SBI is the largest employer in the country’s banking sector with over 2.25 lakh staff.
Gold Loan-to-value ratio now 75%: RBI
Mumbai: People seeking loans against gold jewellery can now borrow more as the RBI has allowed NBFCs to lend up to 75 per cent of the value of metal from 60 per cent at present. ‘It has been decided to raise the loan-to-value ratio to 75 per cent for loans against the collateral of gold jewellery from the present 60 per cent with immediate effect,’ the RBI said.
When asked if the scheme, which she had announced immediately after taking over last October, is in place, she replied in the affirmative. Many private sector organisations, including banks like ICICI Bank, have such provisions in place, but a state-run bank implementing such a provision is probably new. Bhattacharya said the bank was planning to extend the sabbatical leave to single-male parents as well, as the bank needs to be sensitive to their special needs.
'At this point we have not done that. But down the line, we might look at single-parents, as well as males who are single-parents. They also need that kind of sensitivity and we should look at that,' she said. Bhattacharya, who had implemented a system of sabbaticals of six years for women during her previous stint as the head of SBI's investment banking subsidiary SBI Caps, said she had to limit it two years at the bank in line with the policies followed by the government.
'At SBI Caps, we had done it for a longer period of time. Here, we have done it for two years mainly because the government also has it for two years,' she said. She said the bank had also started a special home loan product for women borrowers which offers a discounted rate, and is looking at more such initiatives. SBI is the largest employer in the country’s banking sector with over 2.25 lakh staff.
Gold Loan-to-value ratio now 75%: RBI
Mumbai: People seeking loans against gold jewellery can now borrow more as the RBI has allowed NBFCs to lend up to 75 per cent of the value of metal from 60 per cent at present. ‘It has been decided to raise the loan-to-value ratio to 75 per cent for loans against the collateral of gold jewellery from the present 60 per cent with immediate effect,’ the RBI said.