A civil society organisation has urged Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari to intervene against SBI's reported move to shift key centralised processing centres from Kolkata to Mumbai, claiming the relocation would adversely impact employment and weaken the city's status as a banking hub.
In a letter to the Adhikari, Bank Bachao Desh Bachao Manch sought immediate intervention to prevent the proposed shifting of SBI's Loan Central Processing Centre (LCPC), Centralised Cheque Processing Centre (CCPC) and Centralised Pension Processing Centre (CPPC) from the city.
SBI has internally decided to centralise these operations and vacate the Kolkata premises from where the activities are currently being carried out.
This is the first letter by the Manch to the BJP-led state government. Earlier, the forum had approached the Mamata Banerjee government regarding the shifting of SBI's Global Market Unit from Kolkata, but no effective intervention followed.
According to the representation, the LCPC and CPPC together support around 160 permanent employees, while nearly 50 outsourced workers, over 50 vendors and service providers, and more than 30 other personnel are directly dependent on their functioning, joint convenors Biswaranjan Ray and Soumya Dutta said in the letter.
The Manch argued that the proposed relocation was part of a broader trend of banking operations moving away from Bengal, citing the merger of the erstwhile United Bank of India and Allahabad Bank, the shifting of SBI's registered office to Mumbai and the relocation of other banking functions.
Sources indicated that it is almost impossible for a state government to ask SBI to halt the relocation process once it is nearing completion, if not already completed.
Recalling the earlier transfer of SBI's Central Accounts Office from Kolkata, the organisation claimed that the move had resulted in the loss of nearly 400 jobs.
It also alleged that the relocation of the Global Market Unit had led to a reduction of around 150 positions and a loss of GST-generating activity for the state.
The platform requested the chief minister to take up the matter with SBI, the Department of Financial Services and the government of India to ensure that the processing centres continue to operate from Kolkata and that no further erosion of the state's banking infrastructure takes place.