The Finance Ministry has notified an average salary hike of 12 per cent for employees of four public sector general insurance companies with effect from August 2017. “This scheme may be called the General Insurance (Rationalization of Other Conditions of Service and Pay Scale of Officers) Amendment Scheme, 2022,” said a gazette notification dated October 14, 2022.
This pay revision is effective from August 1, 2017 and is applicable to those who were in the service of these companies, he said, adding that officers and employees will get dues for five years. The next revision due from August 2022 will be in the form of a variable pay based on the performance of the company and the employee.
Unions are not happy with the performance of the company and the implementation of their performance linked pay. “We have a strong protest against the way the wage revision has been done after waiting for 64 months. It seems illogical to link the salary with the performance as we employees take many government schemes,” General Insurance Employees All India Association (GIEAIA) general secretary Trilok Singh said.
There is no equal opportunity for public sector insurance companies, he said, adding that employees of state-owned insurance companies make all government schemes successful and not the private sector. He said that year after year statistics show that the private sector is lagging behind.
Singh emphasized that the unions are not against the reforms, but should be done keeping in mind the public sector nature of these companies. Last year the government notified General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Act which will allow the government to reduce its stake in state-owned general insurance companies below 51 per cent.
An official source said the five-year arrears, along with the 12 per cent hike, will take the wage bill of New India Assurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance to around Rs 8,000 crore. Revision of salaries of public sector banks and insurance companies is done every five years. The next pay revision for employees of insurance companies is due from August 2022.
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