Public Sector Banks are refusing to reveal the amount of PLI paid to senior executives. Activists filed an RTI to know the amount of PLI paid to senior executives of banks, but banks have denied their requests.
The RTIs were filed with State Bank of India (SBI) and Central Bank of India. To the surprise, both the banks have declined to provide information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act regarding the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) paid to bank employees and executives for the financial year 2024-25.
The RTI applications sought details of the PLI paid by Public Sector Banks under the revised PLI scheme issued by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) through its letter dated November 19, 2024.
The applicant asked for bank-wise details of the number of executives who received PLI during FY 2024-25 and the total amount paid by each Public Sector Bank. The applicant also sought the same information separately for Scale IV, Scale V, Scale VI, Scale VII and Scale VIII.
In addition, the RTI application asked for bank-wise and scale-wise details of employees who received PLI and the total amount paid to them. Information was also sought about PLI or any other performance-linked incentive paid to employees in Scale I, Scale II and Scale III, including the bank-wise number of employees who received the incentive and the total amount paid.
SBI’s Reply
In its reply dated September 30, 2026, SBI said that the information sought under Questions 1, 2, 3 and 4 is not compiled centrally in the normal course of the Bank’s business.
SBI stated that its CPIO may have to collect and compile the information from various offices. According to the Bank, doing so could disproportionately divert the resources of the Bank. SBI therefore said that disclosure of the information is exempted under Section 7(9) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Central Bank of India’s Reply
Central Bank of India, in its reply dated October 1, 2026, also declined to provide the requested PLI information.
The Bank stated that the information and documents sought are of a commercially confidential and privileged nature. It further said that the Bank does not find any larger public interest that would justify disclosure of the information.
On this basis, Central Bank of India stated that the information is exempt from disclosure under Section 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, 2005.
The two replies therefore show different grounds for not providing the requested PLI data: SBI cited the fact that the information is not centrally compiled and the resources required to collect it, while Central Bank of India cited commercial confidentiality and the absence of a larger public interest in disclosure.
