The largest private sector lender of the country, ICICI Bank has issued contracts to some of the employees of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) which it acquired recently, which will end in a term of five years.

This issue is being considered by BoR employees as ICICI's strategy to lay off excess employees.

Out of the total 4000 BoR employees enveloped by ICICI, 400 have received such contracts, said two people having knowledge on the issue. The contracts will end after five years or when the employee attains 60 years, whichever is earlier.

45 BoR employees at junior levels have already resigned from ICICI in one and a half months.

"Whenever we do a merger and acquisition, we treat the employees of the acquired bank as a part of our parivar (family), we will take care of them (BoR employees) as our own employees; we are not here to retrench people," Kochhar had said while ICICI had acquired BoR.

"Ideally, from the point of view of an employee, the message from this contract is that this (the job) is not a good option for them in the long term. However, in the current market scenario, a five-year term gives enough time for the employees to think about other career options," said Shiv Agrawal, CEO of ABC consultants pvt. ltd.