A government committee yesterday finalised a separate pay scale for the employees of Bangladesh Bank and four state-owned commercial banks with 11 grades instead of the existing 20.
The committee led by Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan also decided that the staff would pay their income tax.
The committee, which held its last meeting yesterday, also increased the number of state banks to be benefited from the new pay structure to four from three.
Initially, Sonali, Agrani and Janata banks were supposed to get the new pay structure as corporate banks. Now Rupali Bank has been added to the list.
A finance ministry official said, as Rupali Bank has also been running as a commercial bank, a recommendation has been made to bring the bank under the separate pay scale.
“We have finalised the recommendation of the committee, and it will be sent to the finance ministry within this month,” Bhuiyan said.
The finance ministry official said the new pay structure would take effect by next month as per the recommendation of the committee.
A member of the committee told The Daily Star that as the salaries in the state banks are lower compared to private banks, the state banks struggle to recruit and retain the meritorious and efficient officials.
He said 50 percent of the newly recruited officers would stay on with the state banks if the separate pay scale comes into effect. The official said under the new 11-grade pay structure, initial salaries in the grade 6 and 7 would be higher at the entry level, aimed at attracting talented and efficient officers.
Earlier, the Banking Division recommended the basic salary for those in the highest grade at Tk 52,000 and Tk 5,000 for the lowest graders. The finance ministry official said the final recommendation has increased the salary in every grade by Tk 1,000 to Tk 2,000 to help the officers pay income tax on their own.
In the existing 20-grade scale, the highest basic salary is Tk 33,500 and the lowest is Tk 4,100. Both state banks and the central bank will have the same pay scale. The managing directors and deputy managing directors of the state banks who are appointed on contractual basis will not be included in the new pay scale.
However, the committee could not finalise salary for the BB governor and deputy governors. It will be decided later, said the official.
The Banking Division had to take into account different aspects in preparing the pay scale. It considered suggestions made by the central bank and the state banks, and also studied the pay structures of two private banks and India’s central bank.
The pay structure of Mutual Trust Bank, which has 20 grades, showed the highest salary was Tk 85,800 and the lowest Tk 6,400 in 2012. At Uttara Bank, with 15 grades, the basic for the highest grade was Tk 40,000 and the lowest was Tk 4,200 in 2011.
The highest grade holder in the Indian central bank receives a basic salary of Rs 37,400 and the lowest grade holder Rs 4,440.
Considering the currency exchange rates, the real salary for the employees of the Indian central bank is higher than their Bangladeshi counterparts.
In addition, civil servants in Bangladesh receive lower salaries than their counterparts in India. According to a Banking Division report, the Indian cabinet secretary draws a monthly salary of Rs 90,000, whereas Bangladesh’s cabinet secretary receives Tk 45,000.
Source: The Daily Star
