Retirement, expansion to send banks into recruitment overdrive

Here is good news for job-seekers. Public sector banks will recruit seven lakh clerks and officers in the next four-five years.

The need for hiring this large number will be driven by a number of retirements and the expansion of banking at about 20 per cent per annum, Mr J.P. Dua, Chairman and Managing Director of Allahabad Bank, said in a panel discussion on talent.

The manpower gap is already being felt in rural areas, Mr Dua said.

This would mean that annual hiring by banks could be at about 50,000 from next year.

Mr Supriyo Sinha of McKinsey said 30 to 50 per cent of bank employees were set to retire in the next three to five years. The rate of attrition in the front-desk staff in banks was 75-80 per cent, he added.

Ms Usha Thorat, Director, Centre for Advanced Research in Finance and Learning, said the increasing number of global and domestic customer base, urbanisation and financial inclusion needs would also make talent management vital for banks.

Mr M. Balachandran, Director, Institute for Banking Personnel Selection, Mumbai, said there was increasing interest among the youth in taking up a career in banking. Out of 45 lakh applicants for the common written examination for the posts of clerks in 19 public sector banks notified last month, 85 per cent were graduates and post-graduates, he said.

The minimum educational qualification for clerical posts in banks is intermediate. There are three lakh employees in 27 public sector banks while about 70 per cent of them are clerks.

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