Federal Bank to recruit 3,000 people by 2011

At a time when the idea of cost-cutting has gripped banks all over the world strongly, the country's private lender Federal Bank today said it expects to recruit nearly 3,000 people by 2011.

"We expect to recruit about 1,000 people every year for 2 to 3 years. This year we have recruited 700 people and 100 more will be joining soon," Federal Bank CEO and MD M Venugopal told reporters here.

The bank is looking at employing people from the finance or marketing streams, he said adding that the recruitments will be done mostly through campus placements.

Federal Bank, fourth among private banks, is on an expansion mode to establish its brand all over India. The bank needs manpower for the expansion, Venugopal said.

Many global banks like Citigroup, J P Morgan, HSBC and others, which have a presence in India, recently announced job cuts in the wake of the financial crisis.

Federal Bank's recruitment drive comes at a time when the banks are mulling cost-cutting measures by reducing their headcount. Commenting on the issue, Venugopal said, "We still have enough scope to grow...It could be that they have overgrown in size but we are expanding so there is enough scope for us to grow in size."

At present, about 7,200 are working with the bank and it expects that the headcount would grow to 10,000 by 2011, he said adding that the bank expects to have nearly 1,000 branches by 2011.