Banking sector may create up to 20 lakh new jobs

The banking sector may create up to 20 lakh new jobs in the next 5-10 years, helped by issuance of new licences and efforts being made by RBI and government to expand financial services to rural areas, experts say.

The hiring trends may get a further boost from the public sector banks, as many of them would need to hire fresh talent in the wake of nearly half of their workforce scheduled to retire in the next few years.

According to HR services major Randstad India, banking sector will generate 7-10 lakh jobs in the coming decade and the sector would be among top job creators in the year 2014.

Estimates are much higher for Manipal Academy of Banking, which expects expansion in banking sector, including by the existing and new banks, to help create 18-20 lakh new employees over th e next five years itself. Besides direct hiring, expansion in banking sector also helps in huge job creation in various support areas, experts say.

According to Randstad, public sector banks could account for a bulk of hiring and could see 5-7 lakh new jobs being created in the coming years, as close to 50 per cent of their workforce in the lower and middle-level functions will retire in this period.
“With the new banking licences, which are likely to be issued in the first half of 2014, the banking sector is poised to create big career opportunities in the near future,” Randstad India & Sri Lanka CEO Moorthy K Uppaluri said.

Enthused further by the government’s financial inclusion plans to expand banking to rural areas, Uppaluri said, “With only less than 30 per cent of the Indian population having access to bank accounts, top banking firms are looking to expand and venture into the untapped rural markets that have so much potential to boost growth and profitability”.