An ill-conceived move
With reference to the news piece “SBI card bill payment of ~2,000 by cheque to cost you ~100 more” (April 19), the reported move of SBI Card, a joint venture between SBI and GE capital, which enjoys the trust of over 4 million customers, to charge ~100 for making payment up to the bill amount of ~2,000 by cheque seems to be highly illconceived. It is ironical that anything above this meagre amount has been totally exempted from any such fee. What is so sacrosanct about this magical figure of just ~2,000? Why punish only its marginal 10 per cent customers, more so when its CEO himself claims that over 90 per cent of its customers make payments through noncheque mode?
In fact, the actual position should have been in the ‘reverse’ mode if SBI Card truly aims at encouraging digital payments in line with the government's policy. While one could understand the justification of levying such a fee if the payment up to ~2,000 was made in cash only but it would have been much better if no discrimination was made by SBI Card between its small/marginal and the high value customers by levying such a fee. Of late, the SBI has been coming out with some highly innovative ideas to spruce up its revenue kitty like hiking the minimum balance limit for different categories of its customers, among others. It has also been regularly reducing the rate of interest payable on its term deposits in anticipation of the RBI’s monetary policy stance.
S K Gupta New Delhi picture more gloomy. Economic growth has created wealth but not as many new jobs. Increments are taking place in the informal sector while the size of jobs in the government and public sector undertakings is shrinking. The former do not go beyond ensuring subsistence level of the individual.
More education has led to more unemployment. In rural India 6.5 per cent of the educated male youths in the bracket of 15-29 years with higher secondary schooling were unemployed in 2011-12 while 19.1 per cent of graduates and above went without jobs. The scenario was worse in urban area with these figures as 14.6 per cent and 23.4 per cent respectively. The situation has not changed much. Today even MBAs are also waiting for jobs.
High investment has strong correlation with employment generation in specific industries only. Buying expensive and labour saving technology kills existing jobs more than create new jobs. If at all it does, it requires higher skills not easily available. Growth is sluggish in the manufacturing sector while demonetisation has left micro, small and medium enterprises limping — these provide most jobs.
A few thousand positions in judiciary teaching, police, army and medical categories are lying vacant both due to government inertness and paucity of able and willing candidates. Thus reduction in headcount in government staff (including Central and state governments, public sector undertakings and local bodies) from 19.13 million in 200001 to 17.60 million in 2011-12 and much less now may not be entirely due to higher efficiency of the staff.
Challenges in job expectations will mount with the passage of time and Modi’s efforts to divert attention to elimination of corruption, care for the poor and stress on digitisation may not prove to work unless jobs also increase with economic prosperity.
Y G Chouksey Pune