IT has been reported that the State Bank of India (SBI) has signed up with the Reliance Money Infrastructure (RMIL), an Anil Arnbani group company, a 'business correspondent' deal to source a range of banking services. The deal authorises the RMIL to identify borrowers; collect, process, and submit loan applications; promote credit groups; and take up post-sanction monitoring, follow-up and recovery. As the service provider, the RMIL will also collect small-value deposits; sell micro-insurance, mutual fund and pension products; and receive and deliver small-value remittances. According to the report, the deal which was concluded on February 25 this year was made effective with retrospective effect from October 5, 2013. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has denounced this deal, saying that this is nothing but backdoor privatisation of the basic segments of banking operation in a leading public sector bank like the SBI; the deal covers the core areas of lending, recovery and also a part of deposit collection work. The CITU has expressed the apprehension that this strategy, now started with the SBI, would make inroads into other nationalised banks as well. The CITU has also stressed that this kind of outsourcing is being done to agencies that are controlled by one of the largest monopoly houses --- one which was named by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India in a recent scam. The deal, the CITU statement issued on May 2, 2014, said, is in clear conflict with the very purpose of bank nationalisation and would strike at its very root. The CITU statement also noted that, moreover, the Reserve Bank of India has already blacklisted many of the service providers engaged by the Axis Bank, HDFC Bank etc, in the recent past, mainly because these agencies breached the trust of the banks that had engaged them. The statement further said that the amendment of the banking regulations --- carried out through a heinous collusion between the ruling UPA and opposition NDA inside the parliament --- has allowed a large number of private banks to enter into the field. The present move of outsourcing the core lending cum deposit related jobs in nationalised banks is complementary to the former move and the project is one of privatisation of the entire banking operation and economy. This, the CITU said, would be disastrous to the national economy which could survive the global financial crisis primarily due to the nationalised banks. This also exposes the real intent of the Congress cum BJP policies in favour of corporate cliques, both domestic and foreign. Expressing its strong opposition to any move to privatise the public sector banks in any form, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions announced that the latest move too would be resisted tooth and nail. The CITU has extended full support and solidarity to the bank employees’ federations in their struggle against this move, and urged upon the people in general and the working class in particular to oppose this atrocious move undertaken by the SBI.