Business
FM asks banks to ensure staff speak local language – The Times of India
MUMBAI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged banks to ensure that customers are able to get their work done in branches speaking in the local language. She also called upon banks to tweak HR policies to give weightage to local language proficiency during appraisals. She asked banks to restore the human connect in customer service, insisting that technology must complement—not replace—personal interaction.Language friction between PSU bank staff has come to the fore, particularly in Maharashtra and southern India, especially Karnataka. There was recent outrage after a public sector bank manager in Bengaluru refused to speak Kannada with a customer. The incident prompted condemnation from the chief minister, a transfer of the official, and an apology from the bank. Similar cases have exposed ongoing tensions as staff from other states struggle with local languages, causing communication gaps and customer resentment.In a Q&A session with SBI chairman CS Setty at the bank’s 12th Banking and Economic Conclave, she said the sector must rethink its approach to customer engagement, especially at the branch level. “You cannot say you will do everything digitally and reach customers only online. Person-to-person contact was the strength of Indian banks, even before technology, and it helped you make big strides.” A key part of this human touch, she stressed, is language.Calling it “basic etiquette,” Sitharaman said banks must ensure customers can converse in their own tongue at branches. “Language is an important way to communicate with your customers. Even if they know Hindi or English, it gives a nice touch when you speak their language,” she said. “We Indians go abroad and say a few words in French or Spanish to please people—but in our own country, because of HR policies, staff are posted without knowing the local language. That human touch gets lost.”The finance minister linked customer service to HR policy, asking banks to incentivise linguistic and cultural familiarity. “HR policies must ensure that every staff member posted at a branch understands the customer and speaks the local language. Performance appraisal should also factor in proficiency in the local language,” she said.While acknowledging the gains of digitisation, she cautioned banks against becoming impersonal. “Technology can bring advantages, efficiency, productivity, and profit—but that human touch is what many earlier private banks had before they were nationalised. You don’t have to struggle like the old bankers who travelled to villages, but you still need that connection. Please don’t be carried away only by technology.”Sitharaman also called for restoring accountability in credit assessment, especially for small businesses. “Credit rating of a customer—particularly MSMEs—has to be your own. You should not outsource it,” she said. “Earlier, you knew your customers because the staff posted there understood who was reliable and who was not. That has gone, and it needs to be restored.” She urged banks to simplify paperwork and reduce the burden on borrowers. “Paperwork has to be simple. You cannot keep putting the onus on the borrower to keep proving and providing documents endlessly. If you simplify processes, you will be among the most appreciated institutions.”Bankers said that the language issue largely arose because the response to recruitment drives was not uniform across states. While in some states like Gujarat, young candidates were more inclined towards business, youngsters in Karnataka got more opportunities in private IT sector and preferred these jobs which were non-transferrable. In some northern states however the priority was for government jobs leading to differences in language skills.
Business
Without Rera data, real estate reform risks losing credibility: Homebuyers’ body – The Times of India
New Delhi: More than 75% of state real estate regulators, Reras, have either never published annual reports, discontinued their publication or not updated them despite statutory obligation and directions from the housing and urban affairs ministry, claimed homebuyers’ body FPCE on Friday. It released status report of 21 Reras as of Feb 13.The availability of updated annual reports is crucial as these contain details of data on performance of Reras, including project completion status categorised by timely completion, completion with extensions, and incomplete projects. The ministry’s format for publishing these reports also specifies providing details such as actual execution status of refund, possession and compensation orders as well as recovery warrant execution details with values and list of defaulting builders.FPCE said annual report data is not only vital for homebuyers to assess system credibility, but is equally necessary for both state and central govts to frame effective policies, design incentivisation schemes, and develop tax policy frameworks.“Unless we have credible data proving that after Rera the real estate sector has improved in terms of delivery, fairness, and keeping its promises, we are merely firing in the air,” said FPCE president Abhay Upadhyay, who is also a member of the govt’s Central Advisory Council on Rera.As per details shared by the entity, seven states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa — have never published a single annual report since Rera’s implementation, and nine states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, which initially published reports, have discontinued the practice.Upadhyay said when regulators themselves don’t follow the law, they lose the legal right to demand compliance from other stakeholders. “Their failure emboldens builders and weakens the very system they are meant to safeguard,” he said.
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Over recent quarters, payouts had gradually improved from roughly 65 percent to 80 percent and now to an average of about 85 percent in Q3FY26.
Infosys logo is seen.
IT major Infosys rolled out performance bonus payouts averaging around 85 percent for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (Q3FY26), marking the strongest variable pay outcome for eligible employees in at least the past three-and-a-half years, Moneycontrol reported citing people in the know.
The bonus payout for mid- to junior-level employees ranges between 75 percent and 100 percent, with most employees clustering around the organisation-wide average of 85 percent, the report said. The development signals a steady recovery in variable compensation at the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services firm. Over recent quarters, payouts had gradually improved from roughly 65 percent to 80 percent and now to an average of about 85 percent in Q3FY26.
Employees are expected to receive their bonus letters over the next few days, with the payout scheduled to be credited along with their February salary.
One employee told the outlet that it is the strongest bonus outcome seen in recent years. The payout is also among the rare instances since the Covid-19 period when variable pay has approached the upper end of the eligible range.
Infosys last paid out 100 percent variable compensation during the pandemic. In the quarters that followed, payouts were lower amid macroeconomic uncertainty and a broader slowdown in client spending across global markets.
The higher payout comes at a time when global IT stocks have faced renewed pressure, driven by concerns over rapid advances in artificial intelligence and their potential impact on traditional IT services models.
Shares of global IT firms have seen sharp sell-offs in recent weeks amid heightened investor focus on AI leaders such as Anthropic. Investors fear that generative AI tools could compress pricing, automate routine services work and reduce demand for legacy outsourcing models.
Against that backdrop, the improved bonus payout at Infosys is being viewed as a signal of operational resilience and near-term performance strength, even as sentiment around the broader IT sector remains cautious.
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February 13, 2026, 21:44 IST
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