Indian banks set a decadal record with 123,000 hirings in FY23

Indian banks set a decadal record with 123,000 hirings in FY23

• By Staff Writer

Indian banks witnessed their highest hiring numbers in a decade in FY23, and the trend is expected to continue in FY24, with top banking sector officials expecting a surge in headcount growth. This growth is likely to surpass the previous year's record and potentially set an all-time high.

A collective of public and private sector banks posted the highest annual net headcount addition in the last 10 years as they hired 123,000 employees last fiscal, as per latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The record additions are being driven by aggressive hiring by private banks across functions such as customer interface, lending, assurance, and technology to drive their branch expansion into tier 3 and rural areas.

Net headcount addition in FY23 surged 61% over FY22, boosting the total employee count 7.4% year-on-year to 1.76 million. The sector saw its highest-ever annual net addition in FY11 at 125,000, followed by 124,000 in FY12.

As per an exclusive study for ET by specialist staffing firm Xpheno, the top 15 private banks added on average 350 employees each working day of 2023.

"If we add the replacement hiring count, the onboards per day moves up to nearly 600 per working day," said Kamal Karanth, co-founder, Xpheno. "This level of talent action could well create the record for highest annual net headcount additions this fiscal," he said. These include the likes of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, IDFC First Bank, Bandhan Bank and AU Bank.