PNB Accused of Unlawful Recovery of Travel Allowance Bills from Employees
The All India We Bankers Officers’ Association (AIWBOA) has accused the Punjab National Bank (PNB) of unlawfully recovering previously reimbursed Travel Allowance (TA) bills from its employees, allegedly at a 16% interest rate.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the association claimed that the move appears to be aimed at artificially inflating the bank’s operating profits. The association described the action as a serious financial irregularity and a violation of employee welfare policies.
The post questioned the fairness of such recoveries, pointing out that while the bank has been unable to recover over ₹13,000 crore from major corporate defaulters, it is imposing interest-based recoveries on its own staff members. The association described this practice as “petty extortion”, alleging that employees’ legitimate reimbursements were first paid and later recovered with interest to enhance profit figures.
Demand for Action Against Officials
The AIWBOA urged the PNB management to conduct an immediate inquiry against the officials involved in these recoveries. The association stated that such actions have caused severe demoralization among employees and have led to a decline in staff morale and customer service quality.
It also criticized what it called the bank’s double standards, noting that while large corporate loans have been written off or settled under NCLT haircuts, employees are being penalized through the recovery of genuine claims.
The post, which ended with the hashtag #StopUnlawfulRecoveryOfTABills, has drawn significant attention among bank employees and the wider banking community.
As of now, the Punjab National Bank has not issued any official statement responding to the allegations.
