Public and private banks, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), and rating agencies have taken up the responsibility of vaccinating their employees against COVID-19. While many of them have tied up with hospitals, private players to inoculate their staff, others are offering reimbursement of expenses.
CNBC-TV18 reached out to some of these companies that admitted to challenges on the vaccine supply front, which were causing delays in getting their staff vaccinated. Some companies said they were still in the process of finding partners to start the process.
The pandemic has resulted in 2.91 lakh deaths across the country, as per the latest data available on May 21, 2021. Of these, at least 1,300 bankers have succumbed to the infection, CH Venkatachalam, the general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, the largest body of bank workers, told CNBC-TV18.
Venkatachalam said 600 bank employees had lost their lives to the virus as of February 2021, and this number had gone up to over 1,300 now.
“We observe that while the number of people infected under the second wave is increasing in our country as a whole, its toll in the banking sector is much higher, especially in the number of deaths. This is creating a lot of scare and panic amongst the bank employees,” he said.