New Delhi Jan 29 PTI After facing criticism from various quarters the countrys largest lender State Bank of India SBI on Saturday decided to suspend its circular on recruitment of pregnant women SBI recently reviewed its Fitness Standards for Recruitment in the Bank including norms for Pregnant Women candidates Under the new rules a woman candidate with more than three months pregnancy will be considered temporarily unfit and can join the bank within four months after delivery The move elicited flak from various quarters including from some MPs bank unions and the Delhi Commission for Women In view of the public sentiments the bank has decided to keep the revised instructions regarding recruitment of pregnant women candidates in abeyance and continue with the existing instructions in the matter SBI said in a statement In its latest medical fitness guidelines the bank said a candidate would be considered fit in case of pregnancy which is less than three months However if pregnancy is of more than 3 months she will be considered temporarily unfit and she may be allowed to join within 4 months after delivery of child as per the medical fitness and ophthalmological standards for new recruits and promotees dated December 31 2021 Earlier women candidates with up to 6 months of pregnancy were allowed to join the bank subject to various conditions The conditions include furnishing a certificate from a specialist gynaecologist that her taking up banks employment at that stage is in no way likely to interfere with her pregnancy or the normal development of the foetus or is not likely to cause her miscarriage or otherwise to adversely affect her health Blaming a section of media for interpreting the revised norms as discriminatory against women SBI said the revised guidelines were intended to provide clarity on various health parameters where instructions were not clear or were very old MPs including Binoy Viswam and Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote letters to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman demanding immediate withdrawal of medical fitness circular issued by SBI pertaining to the guidelines for the recruitment of pregnant women It undermines womens rights said CPI Rajya Sabha MP Viswam in his letter to the finance minister while Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi termed the guidelines as extremely discriminatory in nature and debilitates the progress made to empower women The new proposed guideline delays the process of recruitment and promotion for women This comes at a time when the state of Indias female workforce has worsened Such regressive and sexist guidelines will exacerbate the exclusion of women as well as the inequality faced by them Chaturvedi said in her letter The Delhi Commission for Women DCW earlier in the day issued a notice to SBI seeking withdrawal of its new rules wherein a woman who is over three months pregnant will be considered temporarily unfit and she may be allowed to join within four months after delivery All India State Bank Of India Employees Association General Secretary K S Krishna had claimed that a similar move was made in 2009 which after protest was taken back SBI claimed that it has always been proactive towards the care and empowerment of its women employees who now constitute around 25 per cent of the workforce PTI DP MR MR

New Delhi Jan 28 PTI The government on Friday appointed economist V Anantha Nageswaran as the Chief Economic Advisor CEA Nageswaran an academic and former executive with Credit Suisse Group AG and Julius Baer Group succeeds K V Subramanian who demitted office of CEA in December 2021 after the completion of his three-yearterm An official statement said Nageswaran assumed charge on Friday PTI DP RAM

New Delhi Oct 27 PTI The government on Wednesday announced the appointment of veteran banker K V Kamath as chairperson of the newly set up Rs 20000 crore National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development NaBFID Parliament had in March cleared the National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development NaBFID Bill 2021 to support the development of long-term non-recourse infrastructure financing in India including the development of the bonds and derivatives markets necessary for infrastructure financing New approach to building AatmaNirbharBharat Central Government has appointed Shri K V Kamath to the post of Chairperson National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development a newly set up DFI in India Department of Financial Services DFS under the finance ministry tweeted Kamath the first head of the New Development Bank NDB set up by the BRICS group of emerging market economies had completed his five-year tenure last year The 73-year-old banker known among his friends as KV began his career at erstwhile development finance institution DFI ICICI in 1971 Back in 2008 when ICICI Bank was hit by widespread rumours of run-ons Kamath led from the front and was instrumental in its complete turnaround He retired as managing director and CEO in April 2009 and became its non-executive chairman PTI DP DP ABM ABM

New Delhi Oct 25 PTI Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday that fair and impartial auditing is essential for a resilient economy as it instils confidence among citizens Addressing officers at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts Das said that audit is important for the country as public expenditure decisions are based on these reports Observing that there is a need to improve the quality and depth of audit he said the Reserve Bank has taken a host of steps in consultation with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ICAI for improving the audit of banks and financial institutions Listing out some of the recent measures he said risk-based internal audit system for commercial banks was strengthened in January this year Das said RBI has been stressing on a strong governance framework in banks NBFCs for building a resilient financial sector With globalisation and increasing complexities of the financial system audit as a public good has become vital for a sound stable and vibrant financial system he said He urged the auditor community to update and upgrade skills on a constant basis and perform their task in the most effective manner PTI DP CS ANS ANS