FinMin notifies 17% wage revision for over 1.10 lakh LIC employees
The Finance Ministry has notified the wage revision for LIC employees with e¥ect from August 1, 2022, benefiting over 1.1 lakh employees of the corporation. The revision would lead to a 17 per cent annual increase in wages. This would mean an annual additional outgo of around ₹4,000 crore, taking LIC’s overall wage bill to about ₹29,000 crore a year.
This move of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to notify the wage hike is significant as it comes at a time when there is a model code of conduct in place for the ongoing elections.
The DFS is understood to have obtained the Election Commission’s nod before proceeding with the implementation of the wage revision for LIC employees.
Interestingly, the latest
The wage revision could add about ₹4,000 crore annually, bringing LIC’s total wage bill in a year to about ₹29,000 crore
wage hike for LIC employees is in sync with the 17 per cent wage increase handed out to over 8.5 lakh bank employees with e¥ect from November 2022 under a bipartite wage settlement agreement entered into between bank unions and the Indian Banks Association (IBA).
LIC revises wages once in five years; the last raise was in 2017. In March this year, the Centre had decided on this 17 per cent wage increase for LIC employees. The notification issued on Tuesday (April 30) would come into e¥ect from August 1, 2022.
A one-time ex-gratia payment to LIC pensioners also forms part of the revision. This will benefit more than 30,000 pensioners and family pensioners.
STOCK ANGLE
Many stock market analysts contend that increased employee expenses due to the wage hike could pressure profit margins, making LIC less attractive to investors.
For the quarter ended December 31,2023, LIC recorded a 49 per cent year-onyear increase in net profit at ₹9,444.4 crore (₹6,334.2 crore), driven by an increase in net income from investments and growth in net premium income.