Public sector lender the State Bank of India (SBI) is gearing up for a massive restricting of its employees post the merger with its associate banks.
The bank has reportedly slashed its employee headcount by 6,622 in the first quarter of FY18 to 2.73 lakh from 2.80 lakh at the beginning of the quarter.
This occurred majorly due to retirements and a voluntary retirement scheme. Following the merger of its associate banks and due to rising use of digitisation, the bank now wants to redeploy more than 10,000 employees.
It seems that the consolidation of associate banks and a paradigm shift towards digital banking has led to job restructuring process in one of the largest employers in the country.
“While the physics of the merger is over, the chemistry is yet to be completed,” said Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, SBI.
According to the latest developments, the major part of the restructuring is taking place on account of the merger as the bank is struggling to maintain the momentum and trying to avoid several outlets in the same vicinity.
SBI has consolidated its 594 branches till August 6 and has rationalised 122 administrative offices. These restructuring and consolidations are expected to result in savings of over Rs 1,160 crore annually. The bank has designated a new entity, namely SBI Infra Management that manages its real estate assets.
