In a bid to increase the number of women in its workforce, Kotak Mahindra Bank has introduced an all-women’s Probationary Officers course.
The private sector bank is probably the first in the country to launch such as course for women.
The first batch, which was taken in earlier this month, comprising 65 women is currently undergoing training in Bangalore.
According to Shanti Ekambaram, President – Corporate and Investment Banking, “The women’s batch is not very different from the regular batch. We just wanted to experiment and see if there will be enough catchments to get more women into our workforce as a part of our diversity programme.”
In the last three years, the percentage of women in the private sector bank’s workforce has doubled to 18-20 per cent from 9-10 per cent. In future, the bank wants to increase the number of women in its workforce to 30 per cent, Ekambaram said.
Overall, 300 students, including men and women, have graduated since the launch of the probationary officer’s programme in November 2011.
Work culture “Across our consumer business, we need to keep taking in a lot of people. When they join us, it takes some time for them to get acclimatised to our work culture, our products and processes of the organisation.
“We found that they took time and then got disconnected and this resulted in higher attrition. So, we started the probationary training programme to bring in more standardisation in our work culture and ready for market officers,” she said.
In tie-up with Manipal Global Education Services Ltd, the private sector bank offers on-campus nine-months training in banking and managerial skills, including aspects of relationship management, with a monthly fixed allowance of ₹2,500. This is followed by a three-month internship with a monthly stipend of ₹20,000.
Training programme The programme is offered to young graduates between the age of 21 and 25 years and candidates are selected after a selection process which includes online aptitude test, personality profiling, cultural fit profiling and personal interview.
On completion of the course, candidates have the option to continue for another 18 months, and convert the diploma into an MBA programme, while working with the bank.
In addition, on successful completion of 48 months of service with the Kotak Bank, the student gets 85 per cent of the course fee of ₹3 lakh refunded.
During the course, the student also gets a medical cover of ₹1 lakh from the bank.