The largest lender in the country, State Bank of India (SBI), plans to hire approximately 10,000 new employees this financial year to address its general banking needs and enhance its technological capabilities.

The bank has made substantial investments in technology to ensure seamless customer service and bolster the resilience of its digital channels.

Strengthening the Workforce

“We are strengthening our workforce, both on the technology side as well as on the general banking side. We have recently announced around 1,500 technology people recruitment both at the entry-level and slightly at the higher level,” SBI Chairman C S Setty told news agency PTI in an interview.

Technology Recruitment Focus

“Our technology recruitment is also on specialized jobs like data scientists, data architects, network operators, etc. We are recruiting them for a variety of jobs in the technology side…So, in all, our current year requirement will be around 8,000 to 10,000 people. Headcount will be added to both specialized and general sides,” he said.

Current Staff Strength

The total staff strength of the bank stood at 2,32,296 as of March 2024. Of this, 1,10,116 officers were on the rolls of the bank at the end of last fiscal.

Capacity Building Initiatives

Asked about capacity building, Setty said, it is continuous exercise and the bank undertakes reskilling and upskilling of the existing employees to meet the emerging needs of customers.

“Customer expectations are changing, technology is changing, digitalization is widely adopted. So, we are constantly reskilling our employees at all levels,” he said.

Specialized Upskilling

Besides, he said, the bank provides specialised upskilling in certain niche areas to meet the growing need of customers and provide superior banking experience.

Network Expansion Plans and Branch Expansion Strategy

As far as network expansion is concerned, Setty said, SBI is planning to open 600 branches across the country in the current financial year.

SBI has a network of 22,542 branches across the country as of March 2024.

“We have strong branch expansion plans…this would be mainly focused on emerging areas. A lot of residential colonies are not covered by us. Around 600 branches is something we are planning in the current year,” he said.

Customer Reach and Services

Apart from a vast branch network, SBI reaches its customers through 65,000 ATMs and 85,000 business correspondents.

“We serve about 50 crore customers and we take pride in saying that we are the banker to every Indian, and, more importantly, to every Indian family,” he said.

Vision for SBI

He also said he would endeavour to transform SBI into the best bank, the most valued bank not only from a shareholder’s point of view but also from every stakeholder who deals with SBI.

“It could be my customers, it could be our shareholders, it could be the larger ecosystem — the society, the institutional framework — all the stakeholders should be saying that this is the best bank to deal with,” he added.

(With PTI inputs)