Private bank hiring may cool as fewer leave jobs

India's top private sector banks expect the trend of slowing attrition from FY24 to spill over to the just-concluded fiscal (FY25), which could also mean slower hiring in the current financial year as fewer fresh positions open up for new talent.

- Shayan Ghosh & Devina Sengupta

This comes on the back of a subdued entry-level job market, a pivot towards internal talent development by private banks, and some lenders' preference for contractual workers against hiring for permanent positions. These factors are expected to continue slimming attrition numbers in the new fiscal year as well.

"Attrition numbers are definitely going to be lower in the previous fiscal (FY25)," said a banker at a large private sector bank on condition of anonymity, adding that banks realized after Covid that they did not require that many people and employees also found a lot of opportunities elsewhere.

"It is difficult to predict what the hiring situation in the current financial year will be like. But since many are hiring only to fill vacancies, lower attrition would mean fewer job additions," the banker added.

Bankers Mint spoke with said lenders had hired in excess after the pandemic and underestimated the growth of digital services. This led to an increase in attrition in FY22 and FY23 as people quit banks in hordes to join insurance, e-commerce and logistics firms in customer-facing roles like sales and services. Thereafter, though, the outflow has slowed.