The second round of voluntary retirement scheme for public sector bank employees is expected to be delayed for a while with the government planning to link it to the wage settlement negotiations.

This is in contrast to the government's earlier stand of letting banks decide on the introduction of the scheme targeted at segments.

Additionally, the employees unions have proposed that the banks should also give the employees a second chance to opt for a pension scheme.

A bank chief said the Indian Banks Association had sent a draft pension scheme to the finance ministry.

Banks are, however, divided on the issue because some of the bankers are of the opinion that the pension bill will outstrip their wage bills over the next 5-6 years.

On the other hand, some bankers were in favour of the proposal because in the VRS that was introduced by all public sector banks in 2001, barring the Corporation Bank, a majority of the optees were accounted for employees who had decided to go for a pension when the offer was made to them in the mid-eighties.

Officials said a decision would be taken over the next few days. They, however, said the second round of VRS could only be offered around next year because the wage negotiations had just started and the process was expected to last for a few more months.

The Bank of India and the Central Bank of India have already indicated that they will launch a second VRS for employees.

In the first round, the Indian Banks Association package was open to those employees who had completed 15 years of service or were over 40 years.

They were entitled to 60-days compensation for each year of service rendered or salary for the remaining years of service, whichever was less, with a part of the payment in cash and the remaining amount in five-year bonds.

Bank employees were also permitted to go on lien to other organisations.