New Delhi: Public sector banks are facing a huge staff crunch. This is affecting work. Because of this, the Finance Ministry has called a meeting of top officials of all public sector banks on Wednesday. In the meeting, the Finance Ministry asked the banks to come up with a monthly recruitment plan. This has raised hopes that more than 41,000 vacant posts in public sector banks will be filled soon.

Public sector banks had 7.76 lakh employees in 2010-11, which decreased to 7.71 lakh

In the last 10 years, the number of bank branches in the country has increased by 28%, but the number of employees has declined by about 1%. The number of senior executives in banks has increased by 26% in 10 years, but the number of clerks and junior staff has decreased by 19%. Public sector banks had 7.76 lakh employees in 2010-11, which decreased to 7.71 lakh in 2020-21. The number of clerks declined by 13% and junior staff by 27%.

So many vacancies lying vacant

According to the Ministry of Finance, till December 2021, out of the total sanctioned posts of 8,05,986 in public sector banks, 5% i.e. 41,177 posts are lying vacant. These posts are lying vacant due to reasons other than the retirement of the employees. To fill these vacant posts, Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra will also meet the bankers and ask them for an action plan.

Shortage of staff

According to RBI data, there is one employee for 1000 customers in public sector banks. Whereas different private sector banks have one employee for 100 to 600 customers. From these figures, the shortage of employees in public sector banks can be estimated.