Private Banks Double Manpower In 5 Years

Private banks double headcount in 5 yrs-Business Standard

Fresh hiring might slow as banks likely to focus on improving efficiencies

 

The headcount in India’s top private banks is on the rise, despite a slowing economy and uncertain business environment. Large private banks in the country appear to be on a hiring spree, with many of them doubling their staff count in the last five years.

ICICI Bank, the largest private sector lender in India, closed last financial year with 72,226 employees compared to 35,256 staff at the end of March 2010. HDFC Bank increased its headcount to 68,165 from 51,888, while Axis Bank almost doubled its number of employees to 42,420 during this period.

Mid-sized private lenders like IndusInd Bank and YES Bank have also been aggressive recruiters with nearly threefold rise in their employee base in last five years.

“A lot of banks have been hiring in anticipation of a revival in economic growth. Some of them were also expanding their size and building infrastructure to grow their businesses. While I expect private banks to remain net recruiters, they might not be hiring at the same pace as before,” said Ashvin Parekh, managing partner at Ashvin Parekh Advisory Services.

 

Industry analysts felt that would now been monitoring efficiency parameters (like business per employee and profit per employee) more closely as business growth continues to remain tepid.

Employee productivity, for most private banks, has not seen any significant improvement in the last five years. For instance, ICICI Bank's business per employee during the last financial year was Rs 7.47 crore compared to Rs 10.29 crore in 2009-10.

The private lender has reportedly cut 1,200 jobs - from general managers to junior officers - recently to improve its efficiency parameters. “ICICI Bank periodically reviews its business strategy and aligns its organisation structure to the needs of the business. Such organisation restructuring brings in efficiency and improves productivity, translating into better business results for various stakeholders. The process of restructuring includes review of manpower, supervisory structure, systems and processes, technology intervention and job designs among other things,” a spokesperson of the bank said.

“The bank is taking due care to ensure that the process is handled in a humane and sensitive manner. Employees who need handholding due to special circumstances in the family are being exempted from this process. They include women employees who are on maternity leave, employees who children in the 10th and 12th standard and those who are on long sick leave. Freshers have been completely kept out of this exercise. ICICI Bank is a dynamic and growth-oriented organisation. It will continue to hire in accordance with its business requirements,” the spokesperson added.

 

 

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My Opinion Given sometimes ago

Manpower in Public Sector  Bank

It is reported that banks will open 8000 branches this year. Such reckless expansion of branches by banks proved disastrous in seventies and eighties also when in the name of Service Area Approach, banks were advised to open branches in remote areas. Banks in order to abide by instruction of Ministry of Finance and in order to achieve the set target opened thousands of branches without ensuring adequate infrastructure and without having trained manpower to manage the branches opened in villages.

Very soon management of banks as also government of India realized that profitability of almost all public sector banks was adversely affected due to large scale expansion. Bank staffs who were posted in far flung village areas found it very difficult to survive and their families also felt stranded and isolated from society. As a consequence frustration developed in a large section of employees and their enthusiasm to work for banks got diluted and they became either indifferent to bank’s policy or became corrupt to earn money on every sanction of loan without caring for future of repayment.

Loan sanctioned by bankers in these areas were not monitored properly and a feeling developed in villages that loan given by banks are not to be refunded. Corrupt practice took the root where bankers in nexus with block officials misappropriated bank’s fund or financed to unscrupulous persons or earned huge money in form of commission or bribe .Many officers of bank as also that of state government did not hesitate even in making fake advances to loot the bank by both hands . Unfortunately banks also became sympathetic on such corrupt employees in the name of achievement of target of lending imposed by MOF in the name of social welfare schemes.

 Not only this even business potential of these branches were too low to survive. Advances allowed in these branches by bank officers started going bad and ratio of Non Performing Assets (NPA or Bad debts) went on increasing. After losing a lot, government of India and management of Bank decided to close uneconomical and nonviable branches or to turn them satellite branches or to merge them with nearby bigger branches with a declaration that they will continue to serve the village allotted to such closed or merged branches. Somehow some improvement started taking place in banks and branch expansion was curtailed and controlled for a few years and the era of consolidation started.

After burning fingers in such reckless branch expansion it was thought that banks will not commit such mistake in future. But unfortunately politicians of this country are so much votes oriented that they are least bothered for health of bank, nor for bank staff and neither for villagers who are still exploited by local money lenders or micro finance institute. This is why government of India and Ministry of Finance have again started building pressure on each banks to open branches in all unbanked villages even if they are non viable, even if banks do not have adequate trained manpower to manage these rural branches and even if there is no scope of adequate business potential  in these areas.

In the name of Financial Inclusion, banks are again committing the same blunder of reckless expansion as they did in seventies and eighties in the name of Service Area Approach. ‘’Old wine in new Bottle ‘’ is the fittest proverb to ascribe for banks.

After passage of a decade or so, Politicians come out with different schemes with more or less same ingredients. When they fail in one scheme, they come out with similar other scheme with difference name but the loot continues in the same fashion. Cancer of Corruption does not allow any scheme to get real success. Politicians and banks together damaged banks first in the name of Service Area Approach and now they are damaging in the name of Financial Inclusion. 

So far as poor villagers or poor persons of this country are concerned, they were not happy with the system in the past and they are not happy in the present , though all such attractive polices are framed for them and  meant to serve them only . It is however undeniably true that village level unscrupulous elements in nexus with state government employees and banks are exploiting bank fund for their personal gain in the name of social welfare.

Poor and unemployed youth  were cheated in the name of Antodya Scheme, then in the name of Integrated Rural Development Scheme and now in the name of Financial Inclusion. Similarly unemployed youth were cheated and in turn unemployed youth cheated bank  in implementation of schemes like PMRY, then PMEGP, SGSY etc . Self Help Group Scheme headed by various NGOs are looting banks in the name of creation of employment.

Fifty percent of branches of every bank are having huge small amount Non Performing assets and majority of such branches are running in operation losses. More than Fifty percent of loan accounts are NPA in majority of branches and still management of bank claim to be safe and healthy.

Branches after branches are being opened every year but recruitment of additional manpower matches branch expansion is not ensured. Total manpower in most of the banks is almost the same as it was a decade ago. It means they are adding branches but not adding manpower. They recruit manpower hardly equivalent to number of bank staff retire or resign every year. Due to this unbalanced manpower policy , there is huge work load on all existing employees and this is why bank employees are abused, tortured and forced to work late hours, and work on Sundays and holidays . This is why bank employees are not in a position to properly carry out pre sanction inspection before sanction of new loan, nor they have time to monitor the advances disbursed by them and nor do they have time to follow up defaulting borrowers to ensure timely repayment of loans disbursed by them.

To add fuel to fire management of almost all banks are now suffering scarcity of experienced manpower. They have started therefore to give promotion even in two or three years of service which used to be rare possibility in seventies and eighties or even in nineties. Officers who have got no banking idea and no credit exposure are made branch head and officers who have not served in branches are made Regional Head. 

To make it more worse,Banks have started recruiting  officers directly from campus in higher scales to attract good officers from other banks.  They are not hesitating recruiting their own kith and kin from campuses of their choice , They do not hesitate causing loss to banks by paying higher pay to such newly recruited officers . They have no shame even in creating anomalies of pay of experienced and inexperienced officers.Twenty or Thirty year experienced and performing officers are not getting salary as much as newly recruited or five year experienced officers are getting in the name of so called meritorious or specialist officers.

In the name of merit they are indulged in corrupt practices even in recruitment and promotion of employees. Under such circumstances and in such polluted and corruption inflicted environment, one cannot dream of banks remaining healthy and growing in near future. 

In brief one can say that politicians of this country who are well versed in corruption and well versed in protecting corrupt officers are leaving no stone unturned to make bankers also corrupt and to protect all corrupt bankers by hook or by crook.Clever  Bankers and clever  politicians are serving their personal interest at the cost of villagers , poor citizens of this country and the scarcely available fund of the country.