HDFC Bank does not expect any layoffs due to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), emphasising that the technology will instead be used to redeploy employees into more customer-facing and technology-driven roles, said Managing Director and CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan.
Speaking to the press post Q2 earnings on October 18, he said, “Frankly, AI is not going to have any layoff whatsoever in our bank. I feel this is a massive opportunity to move people from the back end to the front end or to the tech end.”
“There is so much runway for growth. We would want to have a lot of people at the front end to engage customers and also in technology to keep innovating with emerging tech that’s rapidly coming over.”
He noted that the bank’s current use of AI is focused on re-engineering and process optimisation rather than decision-making. “This will be used to reduce turnaround time, simplify processes, and create a fair amount of customer experience, which will free up a fair amount of capacity,” he said.
“Once capacity is freed at the back end, we can bring more people to the front end to engage with more customers, and that’s the game plan.”
Jagdishan added that while some experiments with AI may not succeed, the bank is optimistic about early wins. “Some experiments will work and some won’t, but we are optimistic that the low-hanging fruits should work. One should start seeing the fruits of this from 18–24 months,” he said.
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