The State Bank of Hyderabad, a subsidiary of SBI, will hire 2,000 clerical and 600 supervisory staff in the current fiscal. Of these around 300 will be sent in rural branches to build the bank’s agricultural loan portfolio.
Renu Challu MD said, “This is in addition to the 600 supervisory officers, who were interviewed last year and would be joining us in the next two months”.
Challu said the bank was considering a 22% increase in its credit flow this year due to a big demand from sectors like infrastructure, power, roads, hospitality, and steel and cement. She added, “With enhanced focus, we anticipate a 35 per cent growth in the micro, small and medium enterprises sector to Rs 32,000 crore (Rs 320 billion) this year”.
SBH is planning to start 230 branches this year. It is waiting for licences from the Reserve Bank of India for 89 branches, while the other 141 do not need any licence since they lie in places with a population of below 50,000.
The bank also started its first-ever currency management branch to deal better with soiled and counterfeit notes and provide cleaner notes across the counter, and an SMS Feedback facility in which the client can get a customer care agent to contact her/him within 24 hours to deal with grievances.
It also introduced SBH Gen-X, a savings account to meet the special requirements of the generation between 18 and 30 years.