PSB headcount slips to 13-yr low

Between FY17 and FY24, PSBs lost more than 100,000 employees even as staff in the banking sector increased

- Shayan Ghosh & Devina Sengupta

The number of employees at India's public sector banks (PSBs) is at its lowest in 13 years, showed latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with mergers leading to slower branch expansion and many finding greener pastures elsewhere.

Thirteen years ago, in FY11, public sector banks employed 755,102 people, while at the end of FY24, the number stood at 756,015, the RBI data showed. These banks have lost about 12% of their employee base in the last seven years.

Between FY17 and FY24, public sector banks lost more than 100,000 employees even as staff across the country's banking sector increased by nearly half a million, the data showed.

Interestingly, private sector banks have doubled their staff count to 845,841 in the same period.

The number of employees in public sector banks was at its peak in FY17, when they had a total of 857,500 staff.