The Hindu Business Line : PSUs join talent hunt with big hiring plans

New Delhi, Dec. 11 After a hiatus of sorts on large-scale recruitments, and with several rounds of voluntary retirement schemes behind them, public sector companies are back to hiring like never before. The trend is more pronounced in the case of PSUs in the infrastructure and banking sectors, with new inductions happening mainly at the entry level.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, for instance, plans to raise its headcount by over 18,000 in the next five years as part of its expansion programme. Steel major SAIL is already in the process of inducting 500 management trainees, while NTPC Ltd plans to recruit executive trainees across nearly all major technical and administrative functions.

National Aluminium Company Ltd is hiring engineering and management trainees, while Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is on the lookout for around 260 engineering and HR trainees.

According to Indian Institute of Banking and Finance estimates, public sector is slated to recruit over 1.5 lakh employees across various levels over the next three years. State Bank of India, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Bank of Baroda are among those working on plans to increase headcount.

To Recall seniors

BHEL, NTPC and some PSU banks have also decided to recall ex-employees at senior positions. “We plan to induct around 3,500 people annually for the next five years in almost all product lines at our plants,” the BHEL chief, Mr A. K. Puri, told Business Line. In a majority of cases, these recruitments are aimed at both infusing fresh talent for spearheading growth initiatives and also filling up some functions that fell vacant after past VRS offerings.

NTPC is looking to hire executive trainees across specialisations, including electrical, mechanical, civil, electronics, instrumentation, IT, mining, geology, human resource and finance, a company official said. The Rs 39,000-crore SAIL, which is implementing an expansion programme currently, is offering jobs to 400 management trainees in the technical side and 100 management trainees in administration. While NALCO is recruiting Graduate Engineer Trainees and Management Trainees, HPCL is in the process of recruiting 250 Officer Trainees in the engineering disciplines and another 10 Officer Trainees in the HR function.

In the case of the banking sector, according to IIBF, public sector banks in the country are likely to recruit over 1.5 lakh employees over the next three years. SBI is looking to hire nearly 3,000 employees, mainly for its associate banks including the State Bank of Hyderabad, while others such as Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and Andhra Bank are reportedly looking to expand their workforce by about 2,000 at various junior-and middle-management levels. Oriental Bank of Commerce is already in the market for recruiting around 200 Probationary officers in its first phase of officer-level recruitments.