In pink of health, BFSI attracts most executive talent

If banks are in the pink of their health, could talent be far away? Banks and financial services are the HR flavour of the season, a report of The Times of India has stated, citing increased migration of talent from other sectors to banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI).

The report has mentioned the findings of a survey conducted by Executive Access that showed that the BFSI space has emerged as a top attraction for executives way ahead of other sectors such as IT services, fast moving consumer goods and other services. This is sharp contrast to the trend in end-2020 when life sciences came out as the most lucrative sector for HR. The BFSI sector was pushed back to the fifth place then.

The survey conducted a study among 225 executives and found that about 20% voting for BFSI sector the most attractive. The sectors that came behind were FMCG or consumer durables with 14%, services with 12.6%, information technology with 11.7% and life sciences with 10%. The last three sectors were energy that 7% said was the most attractive, while 6% found manufacturing and 5% said infrastructure/real estate as the most attractive to work for.

“BFSI today looks at talent from a different lens and the vertical is willing to pay competitively for the best. They are not scared to pay a premium to attract talent outside the sector. Recruits from outside of BFSI have doubled during the last three plus years and are likely to continue to grow as performance of talent from outside BFSI has been good,” said Ronesh Puri, MD, Executive Access (India).

“It is advantage BFSI as the sector is doing very well and there has been a flurry of activity to upgrade. Talent today looks at BFSI as a happening sector thanks to a forward-looking outlook from major banks in the country BFSI has substantially upgraded technology with an emphasis on digitisation which undoubtedly has and will continue to pay dividends,” Puri added.

The premium that FMCG and IT companies used to pay for exceptional talent has shrunk. Puri said that earlier these two sectors were paying 20% more for certain positions but the difference has gone down by half in the past three years.

Other experts concur. “With worries around global recession now being dispelled, and India emerging as a leading economy in terms of growth, we are bullish that this sector will continue to stay ahead of others in hiring talent. The increase in capital expenditure by the government and the private sector augurs well for BFSI to achieve this outcome. For seniors, this sector continues to offer opportunities in managing scale and M&As. These will enhance their learning experience,” said Shaliesh Singh, senior director and chief people officer Max Life Insurance.

“Today in India, BFSI occupies a unique place at the crux of customer, technology and innovation. It is a sector that is known to build careers, a place where we invest in our talent, grow leadership internally and offer access to cutting edge assignments that have impact at scale. At Axis, we have been able to attract marquee talent across the group, given the unique platform we offer in this space,” remarked Rajkamal Vempati, president & head (HR), Axis Bank.