Public sector banks cut headcount by 11,154 in FY24

Bank unions have highlighted that there is a need to add more jobs at the clerical level considering the increasing pressure at the branch level.

India’s public sector banks (PSBs) reduced their employee count by a collective 11,154 in fiscal year 2024, an analysis of eight banks’ annual reports showed. Among the eight PSBs, State Bank of India (SBI) reported the highest reduction, 3,562, or 1.5 percent of total employees. The next highest was Bank of Baroda which saw a reduction of 2,607 employees. The lender had a total workforce of 75,515 employees in FY24.

Most of the job reductions were seen at the associate level.For instance, SBI’s associate-level employee count reduced to 92,514 in FY24 from 94,977 in FY23. Punjab National Bank’s sub-staff level employee count fell to 22,781 in FY24 from 23,827 in FY23.

Associate jobs mostly include sales employees in the field and some staff on the branch level.

Bank executives said that hiring at the associate and low level at PSBs is expected to slow down in this fiscal year. Some PSB executives had in April 2024 told Moneycontrol that their focus would be more on digital operations for the front-end communication, which could lead to a drop-off in hiring in low-level operation roles.

“We are investing in digital methods which have given us good results. Basic functions like query handling and collection at times have been successfully happening digitally. Maybe employee hiring for these roles will not happen aggressively,” a senior PSB executive said.

Another executive said that some functions are expected to stay offline but the bank is looking to boost its digital services.

Stanley Johnson, executive director, AGS Transact Technologies, for instance, explains how in the cash management segment, there are fewer human resources required than earlier. AGS Transact is a digital payment solutions and automation technology provider for bank ATMs. According to Johnson, more banks are ordering cash recycler machines and ATMs to ease services at branch levels. “Banks are expanding their ATM network in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. They are introducing new ATM machines. Earlier when there were 4-5 employees working on deposit and cheque services, the same was reduced to 1 or 2,” Johnson said.

Data from the Reserve Bank of India’s Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy for 2023 showed that on average, the total number of employees in PSBs fell by 15,000 to 20,000 between 2013-14 to 2022-23. In 2013-14, the total headcount stood at 8,59,692, which fell to 7,56,644 in 2022-23.

It also highlighted that between 2013-14 to 2022-23, the total number of clerks at PSBs dropped from 3,15,292 to 2,57,771. The total number of subordinate officers too fell, to 1,01,555 in 2022-23 from 1,56,218 in 2013-14.

On the flip side, Bank of Maharashtra saw a rise in its total employee count. The bank’s total workforce jumped by 522 employees from 12,977 to 13,499.

Bank unions have highlighted that there is a need to add more jobs at the clerical level considering the increasing pressure at the branch level. “There is a need to increase more manpower in PSBs as they are catering to a large number of customers. On average, an employee in a PSB handles 1,000-2,000 customers whereas the same with private banks is around 400-500,” said Rupam Roy, general secretary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation.