YES Bank intends to continue its recruitment spree. In the three years beginning the current financial year, the bank plans to add 7,100 people, according to bank sources.

As at end March 2012, YES Bank had 5,642 employees. In 2010-11 and 2011-12, the bank hired 895 and 1,713 people respectively.

YES Bank expects to ramp up its business, go ‘retail’ in a big way. This direction is evident in the bank’s expansion of both workforce and branch network.

The bank has said that it expects its employee strength to grow to 7,200 in 2012-13, which means the bank would recruit 1,500 people in the current year.

Another implication from the numbers is that the bank would recruit over 5,500 people in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Branch network expansion too matches with this strategy. YES Bank today has 356 branches, but plans to grow its network aggressively. It has “mapped locations for expansion” to 900 by March 2015.

It had set for itself a target of 750 branches for 2015, which it revised to 900.

This again implies that the bank intends to add 540-odd branches in three years, much more than what it has done in the eight years of its existence.

But seeking to be closer to the customer, the bank has scaled down its ATM target — from 3,000 to 2,000. Today, it has 600.

In 2011-12, YES Bank earned a net profit of Rs 977 crore. Each share earned Rs 27.87. On the BSE today, the YES Bank share was quoting around Rs 355.15.

mramesh@thehindu.co.in