'If one goes by the guidelines given by the government, the incentive scheme is not workable. Not more than 25 percent of the workforce will benefit from the incentive scheme,' J. Gurumurthy, secretary of the All India Insurance Employees Association, told IANS.

As per the government directions, employees of the five insurers will be considered for performance linked cash incentive only if two conditions are satisfied - the net profit should not be less than Rs.200 crore and the solvency ratio should be above 150 percent.

'When a company satisfies the above two conditions, then the incentive amount payable should not exceed 0.7 percent of the insurer's gross domestic premium and 20 percent of the gross salary of the employee,' Gurumurthy said.