MUMBAI: At a time when most other banks, especially those in the private sector, are cutting hiring, and instead deploying more technology tools, especially artificial intelligence, the nation’s largest lender State Bank of India is on hiring mode. The bank has inducted close to 5,800 junior associates in the current quarter, and a total over 18,000 so far this fiscal. Moreover, the bank, which handles a fifth of the industry-wide assets and liabilities, will be adding at least 16,000 new hands every year over the course of the next five years.
While many banks are using AI and Gen-AI tools for KYC verifications, customer interface and loans and a host of other jobs, incorporating more complex functions such as risk assessment and compliance, customer onboarding, and borrower lifecycle maintenance, SBI's hiring shows that human interface is still needed in the financial services space.
“The induction of the fresh talent pool (of 18,000 recruits this fiscal so far out of over 9 lakh applicants) underscores our sustained commitment to strengthening frontline capabilities and elevating customer experience nationwide at the branch level," said chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty.
“As we chart our path to doubling our total business to Rs 200 trillion over the next five to six years, we intend to onboard around 16,000 employees annually to power this growth journey. By building a future-ready, digitally-skilled workforce, we reaffirm our commitment to delivering superior, technology-led banking experience with trust and consistency,” he added.
Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley earlier in the day said it is culling 2,500 positions or 3% of its worldwide headcount as part of AI adoption. The layoffs will affect several divisions including investment banking, trading, and asset management both both front-office and support roles, although client-facing financial advisers are expected to be largely spared.
It may be noted that call-centre automation was the first wave of tech adoption by banks. The second leg got regulatory acceleration when the Reserve Bank had last August issued a document allowing banks to adopt AI in their internal workflows. Industry sources said the banking industry is showing increasing confidence in AI.
Recently, one of the largest private sector lenders told TNIE that their hiring focus is primarily on the sales side as most of the internal workflow such as credit risk assessments for smaller loans, entire KYC verification, and customer onboarding among others are almost fully automated. Hiring is still happening at the sales and to some extent marketing fronts, he added.
The largest non-bank Bajaj Finance had said in the December quarter earnings that it had disbursed close to Rs 1,600 crore of new loans during the quarter using AI-led call centres.
The benefits of AI adoption are significantly higher for lenders. According to industry analysis, the cost of AI deployment is as low as Rs 5-10 per minute, while human agents cost anywhere from Rs 12 to Rs 20 per minute. Plus AI doesn’t have recurring costs like annual increments, long paid leaves among others.
This aggressive hiring does not mean the bank is not tech savvy. In fact, its mobile app Yono is the largest in the category with 96 million customers while 148 million of its over 500 million customer use Internet banking. Yono saw 30 million new registrations as of December 2025.
In terms of digital lending, the bank has disbursed pre-approved personal loans worth Rs 1,673 crore through the Yono app in Q3FY26. Not just that, SBI is the most followed bank globally on Meta, Instagram & X with 24 million, 3.5 million and 4.7 million respectively on these platforms as of December 2025.
The State Bank said its latest induction of 5,783 junior associates came after the preliminary exams conducted last September which was attended by close to 9.1 lakh aspirants. Following the preliminary exams, as many as 1,20,006 candidates were shortlisted for the main exam in November.
“With this latest round of recruitment, the bank has added over 18,000 new employees to its workforce of over 2,48,000 across roles and grades during the current fiscal year, marking one of its most expansive talent induction drives in recent years. All the selected candidates will be deployed to further strengthen customer service and branch operations,” the bank said in a statement Thursday.
Since FY24, it had a net addition of more than 16,000 from 2,32,296. Of the total workforce, 28% are women. The 2.48 lakh workforce includes close to 1.1 lakh officers, nearly 95,000 associates, and over 31,620 support staff.
The chairman said the strategic talent expansion is aligned to the bank’s vision of doubling its business size in the next five to six years to Rs 200 trillion from Rs 103 trillion as of December 2025 and delivering a superior, technology-led banking experience. The large-scale hiring initiative underscores the bank’s continued focus on strengthening its frontline workforce and enhancing customer experience across its extensive branch network nationwide, he added.
As of December, the bank had a deposit base of over Rs 57 trillion and advances of over Rs 46.8 trillion commanding a market share of 27.9% and 19.2% in home loans of over Rs 9 trillion and auto loans, respectively. SBI has the largest network of 23,125 branches and 63,000 ATMs/ADWMs with over 79,630 BC outlets.