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 the RBI and the Government to expand financial services into rural areas, according to experts.

Hiring trend 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 the among top job creators in 2014.

Estimates are, however, 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 the next five years.

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 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 into 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.”

Reflecting similar views, talent assessment company MeritTrac Services’ CEO Vasu K Saksena said that “hiring in banks is likely to increase in the next couple of years” owing to expansion of banks into new cities and rural locations.

“Along with new banking licenses, the reason can also be attributed to the large numbers of retirements that banks will witness during this year and the next,” Saksena added.

According to Manipal Academy for Banking, about 4 lakh people applied for jobs in public and private sector banks last year.

Of these, while public sector banks hired 60,000-70,000 candidates, private sector hired another 40,000 job aspirants.

Looking at the recent trends, experts are of the opinion that hiring in the sector is expected to happen across regions with lower tier cities to be one of the biggest beneficiaries.

“With new banks being set up in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, there will be growing demand for business correspondents, sales executives and other banking professionals to reach out to the rural population,” Uppaluri said.

“In the months to come, we expect to see higher hiring momentum in tier 2 and 3 cities to begin with,” he added.

“Clearly, Tier 2,3 and 4 cities would be the biggest beneficiaries as most of the existing banks are looking to expand into these cities,” Manipal Academy of Banking Director C S Thammaiah said.

“Most of our partner banks have seen their per employee productivity going up and attrition coming down through a conscious effort of hiring from tier 3 and 4 towns,” Thammaiah noted.

Going by findings of Randstad India the top three cities that will witness maximum momentum in hiring in banking related jobs are — Mumbai, Chennai and NCR region.

“New banks will require staff for branches, as well as for functions such as operations, IT, risk management, compliance, among others,” MeraJob India Founder & CEO Pallav Sinha said.

“The new licensees will hire people with banking expertise for key positions, thereby triggering a revival in recruitment for banking,” he added.

“Banking jobs will be opening up at all levels although the entry level officers and clerical roles in public sector will see the highest intake.

“Existing banks will specifically need candidates in the client-facing and client-servicing roles,” Thammaiah said.

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