Second innings for ‘retired bankers'

If you are relatively healthy, have the expertise in your area of work, and are willing to keep yourself engaged after retiring from service, have no fear. Job offers may not be too elusive, what with non-banking finance companies such as Manappuram Finance inviting applications from ‘retired bankers'.

This obviously should be good news for those out of service, yet looking for a second innings in their career. And the response to the advertisement, company sources say, ‘has been pretty good.'

The Kerala-based NBFC is looking to engage as many as 5,000 persons in the next three months.

Manappuram Group's Executive Chairman, Mr V.P. Nandakumar, told

Business Line that of the Group's total workforce of 23,000, close to 1,300 were retired bank officials, including 200 internal auditors employed on part-time basis. “We are planning to hire 5,000 people in the next three months. At least 1,000 of the new entrants will be retired bank officials. This is essentially to increase the proportion of experienced hands at the level of branch heads and area managers,” he said.

Expansion plan

With a branch network of 2,300 across 22 states and intention to add another 500 this year, Manappuram Finance foresees the need to hire people to keep pace with its expansion plan. “On an average we have around 60,000 customers visiting our branches every day,” Mr Nandakumar added.

“While there is no formal upper age limit, good health is an important criterion. Typically, we deploy retired bank officials in areas such as branch operations, risk management, regulatory compliance, inspection and audit, etc. We will continue to hire freshers as before. We are looking at a blend of youth and experience in our workforce.”

Manappuram has a full-fledged training establishment in Valapad, where training is imparted to all its people, apart from programmes conducted at all its regional offices at frequent intervals.

Asked if women were enthused to take up such career options after retirement, he said, “for some reason, very few women choose to take up a ‘second innings'. It could be because there are fewer women officers in the banking sector in that age group, notwithstanding cultural reasons.

On business growth and plan targets, he said, “We are looking to double the Assets Under Management (AUM) to Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal against Rs 7,500 crore last year. Similarly, we are targeting Profit After Tax (PAT) at Rs 500 crore against Rs 280 crore achieved last year.”