Sanjay Das Parallelly, a human drama unfolds. For most banks, the annual promotion exercise culminates in March, and the transfer season kicks off in April.

Sanjay Das Officers spend the last evening of March 31 anxiously awaiting promotion results even as their families ready themselves for yet another relocation to yet another geography. The results can even be released on April 1, the first thing in the morning, on the bank's internal portal

Sanjay Das Most PSBs follow a three-part frame-work to prepare the promotion merit list: Annual performance scores for the last five years; a written test assessing banking knowledge and decision-making aptitude; and an interview.con-ducted internally with a few domain experts

Sanjay Das On paper, past performance, techni cal competence and behavioural assess ment appear to be a balanced approach. but in practice, these have flaws in both design and execution. This often dents the process's credibility,

Sanjay Das This process can bring a genuine performer back into the fray, but how does one eliminate the possibility of awarding disproportionately high marks to "favourite" officers? There are instances of the same officer get-ting very high marks one year, and very low the next.

Sanjay Das Such swings point to personal bias the "law of irration ality in human judgement. Higher-ups often use this as a tool for patronage or punishment.

Sanjay Das finance and current develop-ments, along with aptitude tests to gauge decision-making skills. The complexity of these exams depends on the grade. For promotions to top positions, such as gen eral manager and chief general manager, these tests are often not held.

Sanjay Das The group discussions often degener ate into chaotic sessions where everyone scrambles to speak a noisy ritual that rarely adds value to the selection process. The last leg, the interview, typically carries about 30 per cent of the total weightage.

Sanjay Das It seems to be the most opaque part of the process, conducted behind closed doors. There is no room for an appeal if one is unhappy with the outcome. It can last five minutes for one candidate and half-an-hour for another.

Sanjay Das Along with putting their best efforts to meet year-end targets, prospective candi-dates spend a lot of time building con nections and "corridor capital," seeking support from those who can sway the interviewers.

Sanjay Das There is no guarantee that the high performers will find themselves on the list of successful candidates if others, the more con-nected ones, need to be elevated.

Sanjay Das positions-such as chairpersons, managing directors and executive directors of PSBs and other public sector entities in the financial space-typically publishes the results the very day the processes conclude. But the results of internal bank promotions can take as much as a month.

Sanjay Das In 2022, the Financial Services Institutions Bureau replaced the Banks Board Bureau, an autonomous, non-statutory body established in April 2016 to improve the governance and leadership selection in PSBs.

Sanjay Das Even after the merit list is drawn, candidates face another hurdle: Vigi-lance clearance. Any officer against whom disciplinary proceedings are contemplated, initiated or pending, falls under the discretionary lens of the Departmental Promotion Committee.

Sanjay Das While some officers can remain in the "contemplated" limbo for years, effec tively excluded from the promotion process, those with strong connections can navigate and have the files closed quickly.

Sanjay Das Even when the disciplinary pro-cess concludes, and an officer is found culpable for even a relatively minor lapse, the penalty does not end with formal censure or punishment.

Sanjay Das There is a logic to this. Since such officers will not be able to compete for the top position, why promote them internally? However, this could kill the motiva tion to perform in even the most com mitted officers.

Sanjay Das Such recognition would serve as a token of appreciation, sustaining motivation and benefitting the bank. The PSBs need to structure the pro-motion process to identify the leaders who can help the business grow, take calibrated risks, drive initiatives and comply with regulatory

Sanjay Das The challenge before PSBs is to trans-form the promotion process from a source of distrust to a catalyst for devel-oping genuine leaders.

Sanjay Das When hard work is ignored and favoritism decides promotions, it doesn’t just hurt careers — it breaks trust, morale, and dignity. Silent disappointment turns into quiet resignations.