Calcutta, Oct. 16 :    Calcutta, Oct. 16:  Punjab National Bank (PNB) has formally offered a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its 65,000 employees, the first nationalised bank in the country to do so. The aim is to reduce around 13,000, or 20 per cent, of its staff. According to sources, the bank would like a 25 per cent cut in the number but it may not be possible for it to achieve that goal. Called the PNB Employees Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2000, it will remain open for a month from November 1. The PNB board had approved the VRS at its meeting on September 21 and 22. 'It is difficult to say how many people will opt for it. We have earmarked more than Rs 200 crore to fund the scheme,' a senior PNB official told The Telegraph from Delhi. The bank says it will not ask the finance ministry for loan to fund its severance package. 'We will meet the requirement from our internal accruals. Our finance department is working on the funding pattern,' the official added. Banking industry officials say the VRS is the result of an initiative taken by PNB chief S. S. Kohli who, as the chairman of the Indian Banking Association (IBA), wants to show that his bank can lead from the front on job cuts. Earlier, Kohli had headed the seven-member committee that drew up the blueprint for banks' voluntary retirement scheme. The finance ministry approved it, but gave individual boards the freedom to implement the scheme on their own terms. According to IBA, the banking industry in India can become competitive only if it reduces its entire staff-strength by 25 per cent. An employee who opts for PNB's VRS will be entitled to an ex-gratia amount-which may be 60 days' salary (pay plus stagnation increments, plus special pay plus dearness relief) for each completed year of service, or a salary for the number of months of remaining service, whichever is less. PNB has said 50 per cent of the ex-gratia amount will be paid instantly in cash while the other half will be given in the form of bonds issued by the bank for a period of five years. The employees will get gratuity, leave encashment and either pension or bank's contribution towards PF as per existing rules. However, PNB's decision to introduce VRS has raised the hackles of unions in the banking industry. 'PNB has acted as a trend-setter. We will fight it on the issue. On October 24, the members of United Forum of Bank Unions are meeting in Calcutta to decide future course of action,' a senior representative of All India Bank Employees' Association said.