The Rot Inside Public Sector Banks: A Culture of Circulars, Calls, and Zero Accountability

The Rot Inside Public Sector Banks: A Culture of Circulars, Calls, and Zero Accountability

In today’s public sector banks, fear flows downward and excuses flow upward. From Head Office to FGMO, FGMO to Zones, and Zones to Branches — everyone is busy giving directions and issuing threats. Circulars rain like confetti. Targets are revised every week. Yet actual work? Nowhere to be seen.

Walk into any branch and you’ll find managers who behave like old-school babus. Ask them about the latest interest rate, a fresh RBI guideline, or even a simple circular — and they’ll pass the buck: “Sir, let me check with someone else.” and the officers in lateral entry cadre, directly in scale 2 or 3 ,  the god can only manage them. 

Scale I and II officers, who should be the backbone, are either guiding their own zonal bosses or running behind them. Why? Because they have no time to study or update themselves . Their days are consumed by back-to-back video conferences, preparing defensive slides on why targets were missed, and answering endless data calls from above.

Chief Managers in Zonal Offices spend their entire day on phones, extracting branch data only to forward it upward — DZM to FGMO to HO. This is not banking. This is a reporting bureaucracy dressed in banking uniform. No one has the bandwidth, courage, or incentive to motivate the team below. Leadership has been replaced by compliance theatre.

Compare this with private banks. The difference is glaring: superior IT systems that reduce manual drudgery, aggressive marketing that brings business, strong legal teams that protect the institution, and robust compliance frameworks that prevent disasters instead of reacting to them. Private banks empower people; public sector banks bury them under layers of process and fear.

The result? Demotivated workforce, stagnating business, and customers quietly shifting to private players. The few capable officers who still want to perform are drowning in this sea of meetings and upward reporting.

Public sector banks don’t need more circulars. They need accountability at every level, reduced bureaucracy, real empowerment, and leaders who inspire instead of inspect. Until then, this cycle of “threats from top, excuses from bottom” will continue — while private banks keep eating our lunch.

Time to wake up. The balance sheet is bleeding, and so is the morale.

Disclaimer:- This is my personal opinion and you have all rights to disagree with.

Writer shailendra kr Pandey 

Very Important information about Bank Note

M C SINGLA CASE FOR UPDATION OF PENSION

Rs. 4 crore loan taken from IOB Bank on fake documents, CBI sentences accused to 3 years Jail

The CBI Court, Mohali, Punjab, has convicted and sentenced Samir Dua Partner in a Firm, namely, G.D. Ispat Udyog, Mandi Gobindgargh, Punjab, to Rigorous Imprisonment for Three Years with a Fine of Rs. 15,000 in a Multi-Crore Bank Fraud Case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case against Dalip Dua, Samir Dua, Partners in M/s G.D. Ispat Udyog and others for entering into a criminal conspiracy to cheat the Indian Overseas Bank at Mandi Gobindgarh, Pujab.

The investigation revealed that the accused had illicitly obtained a Cash Credit Limit of Rs. 4 Crore from Indian Overseas Bank based on false and fabricated information resulting in wrongful loss to the bank.

After completion of investigation, CBI filed charge sheet against the aforesaid accused. The Hon’ble Court, after the trial, convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly. Proceedings against the co-accused Dalip Dua were abated following his demise.

SEBI order says Rajesh Exports inflated revenue by more than Rs.15 Trillion

Rajesh Exports, among India’s largest gold processing companies, is facing allegations of inflating its consolidated revenues by more than ₹15 trillion over five years by attributing massive revenues to overseas subsidiaries.

SEBI’s interim order dated June 3, alleged revenue inflation of Rs 15.15 lakh crore during FY21-FY25.

But Rajesh Exports said that the allegations are not true. The company said that we had given them 300-400 GB documents, running into lakhs of pages. We think they have not been able to find the correct documents. The whole confusion has happened there.

In another development, PTI reported that the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) would decide on removing Rajesh Exports from the list of beneficiaries under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for advanced chemistry cell (ACC) battery storage in the coming days.

In FY25, REL reported consolidated revenue of Rs 4.23 lakh crore, while profit after tax stood at just Rs 95 crore, implying a net margin of barely 0.02%. In FY24, the company reported revenue of Rs 2.8 lakh crore and profit of Rs 336 crore.

According to experts who reviewed Sebi’s report and the company’s annual reports, the numbers appeared difficult to reconcile. They argued that the business seemed to be operating at margins that were not thin but structurally negligible.

How the investigation started?

The matter originated from a shareholder complaint received in March 2024 that raised concerns over substantial trade receivables reflected in the company’s accounts. Following a preliminary review, Sebi launched a detailed investigation covering the period from April 2020 to March 2024 and appointed BDO India Services as the forensic auditor.

According to Sebi, between 97% and 99% of REL’s consolidated revenue was attributed to overseas subsidiaries, primarily Valcambi. However, Valcambi’s own accounts, audited by KPMG SA, showed only processing-fee income amounting to approximately Rs 3,027 crore over five years.

RBI imposes monetary penalty on Canara Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹41.80 lakh (Rupees Forty one lakh eighty thousand only) on Canara Bank as:

1. the bank did not upload KYC records of certain customers onto Central KYC Records Registry (CKYCR) within the prescribed timeline.
2. the bank classified certain accounts as inoperative, despite the last customer induced transaction being less than one year old in such accounts.

In another update, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹3.10 lakh (Rupees Three Lakh Ten Thousand only) on Puran Associates Private Limited as the company failed to reclassify certain accounts as ‘non-performing assets’ upon restructuring

DEPLOYMENT OF BANK OFFICER AND EMPLOYEE FOR NON-BANKING DUTIES