Practically 33,000 vacant positions existed in India’s public sector banks (PSBs) as on the finish of June, with these 12 lenders utilising greater than 1 lakh contract and outsourced employees, in line with knowledge supplied by the Finance Ministry to Parliament on Monday.
As per a written reply in response to a query within the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated that as on June 30, as many as 32,567 positions have been vacant at state-owned banks throughout officers, clerks, and sub-staff. The cut up was as follows: 17,500 vacant officer positions, 12,861 clerks, and a pair of,206 sub-staff.
“The requirement of manpower in every PSB is decided by the respective PSB retaining in view varied elements which embody, interalia, enterprise requirement, unfold of actions, superannuation and different unplanned exits. Appointment of officers and workers is completed accordingly by the PSBs and it varies from 12 months to 12 months primarily based on their necessities,” Chaudhary stated, including that within the final 5 years, a complete of 1.49 lakh workers had been recruited by PSBs, with one other 48,570 workers within the technique of being employed for 2025-26.
To make certain, the vacant positions account for simply over 4 per cent of the full manpower PSBs require. As on the finish of the June quarter, PSBs had a requirement of seven.91 lakh, and had crammed 7.58 lakh – or 95.9 per cent – of them.
Apparently, the variety of workers required by PSBs has been steadily declining. From 7.9 lakh in 2020-21, the variety of workers at India’s state-owned banks declined in every of the following three years, in line with knowledge furnished by the Minister of State for Finance to the Rajya Sabha on July 22.
In 2021-22, the variety of PSB workers was down 1.6 per cent, and fell one other 1.3 per cent in 2022-23, earlier than posting one other 1.6 per cent fall in 2023-24. The final monetary 12 months, 2024-25, noticed a marginal improve of 0.4 per cent to 7.58 lakh.
Over the aforementioned five-year interval, solely 4 PSBs reported a rise within the variety of workers: Financial institution of Maharashtra (up 16 per cent), Punjab & Sind Financial institution (up 15 per cent), Central Financial institution of India (up 2 per cent), and Punjab Nationwide Financial institution (up 1 per cent). Main the workers shedders was Indian Abroad Financial institution, whose headcount was down 11 per cent in 2024-25 in comparison with 2020-21. On the entire, the variety of PSB workers was down 4 per cent in 2024-25, the finance ministry had informed the Rajya Sabha on July 22.
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The decline within the variety of PSB workers has occurred regardless of an increase of their enterprise. In March 2024, the loans given by PSBs stood at Rs 85 lakh crore, up 38 per cent from March 2021 – the interval throughout which these banks decreased the variety of workers on their books in every of the three years and by a complete of just about 35,000.
In the meantime, on Monday, Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that PSBs utlitised the companies of as many as 1.01 lakh outsourced or contractual employees as on the finish of June. These workers, the Minister of State for Finance stated, are used for non-core actions of banks corresponding to housekeeping, safety guards, and ATM guards, amongst others, and have been in keeping with the Reserve Financial institution of India’s tips.
