Private lenders ramp up hiring

Banks and non-banking financing firms (NBFCs) have scaled up hiring plans in anticipation of business growth, with a rise of as much as 30-35% in recruitment from a year ago, particularly in the technology sector, The Economic Times has reported.

HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank, a private lender with a goal of reaching 200,000 communities in the next 24 months, wants to hire more than 2,500 people in the next six months, while the Shriram Group is hiring 5,000 workers across its many businesses. ICICI Home Finance plans to hire 600 people by December, while Kotak Mahindra Bank has also resumed hiring at levels similar to those before the pre-Covid levels.

The Shriram Group is mostly recruiting in tier 3-4 cities in India’s south and north. Shriram City Union Finance is increasing its gold loan business, while Shriram Housing Finance is concentrating its expansion efforts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“With normalisation returning, we are strengthening functions such as sales, credit, collections and support for supporting our growth plans across the group,” the news reports quoted Shriram City Union Finance managing director YS Chakravarti as saying. “We are acquiring talent across diversified portfolios such as home loans, APF (approved project finance) and cross-sell verticals. At Shriram Life Insurance, we are developing the distribution models that would help us expand our rural presence and tap the rural customer segments.”

As financial institutions faced the fallout from the first and second Covid waves, hiring had come to a halt. Companies are encouraging their full-time employees to stay ahead of the competition as businesses return to normalcy and growth is expected to pick up during the holiday season.

In addition, as technology has become more prevalent, banks and non-bank lenders have boosted their recruiting in the technology and fintech sectors.

“Even as hiring has returned to pre-Covid levels, our focus has switched to hiring new-age and digital personnel with the required skillsets, which might include digital, IT infrastructure, and analytics,” the Economic Times quoted Sukhjit Pasricha, group chief HR officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, as saying.

ICICI Bank

ICICI Home Finance intends to hold recruiting drives in sales and credit across its pan-India branch network, allowing the company to meet the growing demand in the affordable housing category.