Banking Sector Career Opportunities

If you are good at Maths and English and want to make a career in the banking sector, then this is the right time to make a move. Most government and private banks in India are currently recruiting or plan to do so in the near future.

Banks have also been expanding their branch and ATM network in a big way due to which they need trained human resources on a large scale.

In the last few decades, the banking industry has experienced fundamental changes. The example of Hemamalini Venkatraman is an interesting case in point. After completing her graduation with a gold medal in the 1980s from a very famous college of an average Indian town, she was asked by the media if she wanted to become an IAS officer or try some other field. She remarked that she wanted to become a Probationary Officer (PO) in a bank. Not only her parents but even her school teachers as well as the media were stunned at her answer that instead of attempting to qualify for an IAS exam, such an intelligent girl wanted to become an officer in a bank. Such reactions were quite obvious at that time because civil services then had around one thousand vacancies a year whereas banks barely had 40 to 80 vacancies. If any bank ever advertised for over 100 vacancies, it used to be a huge sensation. But now the scenario has changed and a large number of vacancies are advertised. Now is the time for those who want to opt for career in banking.

Growing Opportunities

New branches are being opened in villages and thus well-trained personnel are the need of the hour. Suburban areas in almost all cities are also expanding with new colonies growing at a fast pace. No sooner does a new colony come in, a bank branch is needed instantly. Once a bank makes a debut, the rest follow suit.

The nature of services offered by banks is changing. Earlier government and private sector banks used to provide services pertaining to deposit and remittance of money, loans and debt. But now banks are also selling insurance policies and offering services in the financial sector such  as mutual  funds  and  strategic investment plans. With this, the range of services has increased, and so has opportunity for employment.

Recruitment Scenario

This year recruitment would certainly not be less than that of the last year. Every year, thousands of officers are retiring in almost all the old government banks. This number is among the highest in bigger institutions like the State Bank.

Naturally these seats have to be filled soon to ensure the organization’ smooth functioning. Additionally, in rural as well as urban areas, private sector banks, like government banks, are also opening their new branches and want to expand their business aggressively. Though the number of employees and offices in the newly opened branches is less, yet, at least five to six people are recruited. Additionally, providing license to several new banks is in line this year. Public sector company IDFC and the non- banking finance company (NBFC) Bandhan are said to have received licenses to open banks.

Bandhan has even announced the commencement of bank operations formally from next month. According to a non-official estimates, this year there is likely to be 60 to 80 thousands vacancies and recruitments in the banking sector.

Indian Banking System

The Indian banking system is very strong and holds the complete Indian economy strongly. The strength of this system could be taken into account with the fact that a few years back when the world economy was under the threat of recession, Indian economy came out largely unscathed because of its strong banking system. After independence, the story of banking regulations began with the Banking Regulating Act of 1949. That time banking system was completely private and most of the rough edges were found in this system. Later in 1969, 14 banks were nationalized. After 11 years, in 1980, 6 more banks were nationalized. Among these, New Bank of India was merged with Punjab National Bank. As of now, there are 19 nationalized banks in India whereas the number of State Bank of India and its subsidiary banks is six. In private sector there are 18 banks whereas an announcement regarding license to two more banks was made.

The Process of Bank recruitment

There is a common written test for the recruitment which is conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS). This test is being conducted twice in a year for recruitment in 19 government banks. The State Bank of India with its constituent banks conducts its own test separately. Now after appearing in one test, they will be eligible to seek employment at several banks. For the government banks, including the regional ones, IBPS holds a joint online examination followed by interview.  Pre-examination training is also arranged for SC/ST candidates. For a job in a regional rural bank knowledge of local language is also required. In the private sector, there are no set selection criteria or process. They recruit according to their own process. Many Private Banks usually prefer campus selection.

Clerical Positions

A clerk is mostly a front staff in a bank. Depending on the requirement clerks are placed at different counters of the banks e.g. savings, deposit, current deposit, term deposit, retail loans, cash credit, agricultural loans, credit cards, government business, cash receipt or payment etc. Maximum customer interface in banks occurs at these counters managed by clerical staff.

Eligibility for Clerks

The minimum age for applying for the position of a clerk in nationalised or private sector banks is 18 years. The maximum age limit is 28 years. There is no uniformity with regard to educational qualification for eligibility. This becomes clear from the recently advertised positions of clerks in different banks. In one bank graduates with minimum 40% marks are considered eligible while another banks is accepting candidates with 60% marks in aggregate in 12th standard. Those having an university degree (in any class) could also apply. This bank has put another condition of having secured minimum 60% marks in mathematics at SSC/10th standard. As most of the recruitments in clerical cadre in public sector banks are made state-wise, the candidate applying for the post in a particular State is expected to be proficient in the language of the State. Proficiency means knowing to read, write, speak and understand the language.

Examination Pattern for clerks

Eligible candidates are asked to appear in a written examination. This written examination is objective in nature consisting of four papers viz

1. Test of reasoning ability and numerical aptitude
2. Test of clerical aptitude
3. Test of English language
4. Test of General awareness

The structure of written examination may differ from bank to bank. To qualify in the written test the candidate should pass in each of the objective test separately with required minimum qualifying marks. It is also necessary that the candidate obtains a certain percentage of marks to be eligible for moving to next stage of selection.

From those who get the qualifying marks as above, the bank calls a fixed number of people to appear in the interview process. The number of people called for interview is in a certain proportion of available vacancies. This interview is a simple process in which question about candidates’   academic and cultural background, career goals etc. are asked. Effort is also made to know about his aptitude for the job and customer orientation etc. Most of the people applying for a clerks position in the bank are fresh from college. They should be ready to answer questions about their choice of subjects, streams etc. From people who are employed or have work experience, questions may be asked about the job or assignments they have been handling. In case of interview also minimum qualifying marks are prescribed.

The final merit list is drawn by adding up marks obtained by the candidate in the written test and interview.

Career Prospects

Finally selected candidates can look forward to a fruitful career in the bank, they join. All public sector banks provide training to new employees for equipping them to take up their assignments. Induction training which happens immediately or soon after joining is the first training programme they attend. Subsequently they are offered training in various banking disciplines.

Public sector banks are few organisation which offer promotion from one cadre to another. Thus those who join as clerks may be promoted as officers, as per banks norms. For bright candidates, in some banks, this promotion from a clerk to officer is possible in a period as short as one year.

Recruitments in Officers cadre

Vacancies in officers cadre in public sector banks are filled from within the organization after promotion of clerks and also by direct recruitment. To meet the shortage of manpower in officers cadre, now a days the public sector banks are required to recruit large number of officers. Most of the vacancies for which recruitment’s are made in Junior Management Graduate Scale I, which is the entry level position for joining a public sector bank as an officer. This entry level position is known as that of probationary officer or management trainee. Bank probationary officers can come from any discipline or field of study, although there is a misconception that only people from commerce or finance background are eligible. A finance or commerce background may help the candidate adjust to the banking environments faster than others but banks recruit talents from diverse backgrounds of science, literature etc.

The minimum age to apply for entry level officers position is 21 years while maximum age may be 26 years or above as decided by individual banks. As regards qualification, the candidate should at least be a graduate from a UGC recognised university. In some banks only first class graduates are considered eligible. For some other banks the minimum percentage of marks required is 55 percent. Those with post graduate qualification may get some relaxation in qualifying percentage of marks, in few cases. There have also been instances of banks preferring to recruit people with post graduate degree or diploma in management. Particular recruitment advertisement should be carefully studied to know the eligibility criteria.

The test for probationary officers consists of the following objective papers:

1. General Awareness
2. Data Interpretation and Logical reasoning
3. Verbal Reasoning
4. English

Some banks prefer to include a descriptive paper also in the test process. In this paper the candidate is required to write essay and attempt composition. Minimum qualifying marks are prescribed for both objective and subjective papers. Candidates are called for interview on the basis of marks obtained in written examination.

Interview for officers position is expected to be more comprehensive. Here along with general questions, the interview panel may try to judge the candidates understanding of nation’s economy, issues before the economy etc. One should always be ready to answer questions like ‘why you want to choose banking as a career?’, ‘what are your expectation from the job’ etc. Also questions relating to earlier job experiences may be asked. For getting selected a candidate should do    well both in written examination and interview.

Recruitment in higher scales

With some experience one can expect to join a public sector bank in a higher scale. Most of the vacancies in higher scales exist in Middle Management Grade II or III. Of course the candidate should fulfill the eligibility criteria as regards to age and qualification. The experience required for higher scales keeps changing from bank to bank, it may be one year or more. Professionally qualified people (with qualifications like MBA, CA etc) stand better chance in this regard.

Campus Recruitment

Since last 3-4 years public sector banks have started recruiting from campuses. This campus recruitment covers only a small part of their manpower needs but it has opened a new window of opportunity to students wanting to make a career in banks. From campuses banks are taking MBAs from different disciplines, agriculture graduates, chartered accountants etc.

Career Progression

There is a well defined career progression path in each public sector bank. Performance and potential are key elements which determine this career progression. Most senior officials in public sector banks started their career as clerk or scale I officer only. In tune with the time banks have reviewed their promotion policy and now for bright, hardworking and knowledgeable employees it takes less time to move to higher scales. In many banks a person who joined as an officer may reach to the position of Genera Manager in 14 years. After that one can aspire for the position of executive director or chairman of a bank. These are very high positions, nomination to which is decided by the Government and not by the individual banks.

Many public sector banks have a network of foreign branches. Thus joining a public sector bank gives you the opportunity of working abroad also. Transferability in a bank job provides you the chance of seeing different parts of the country.

To Conclude

Public sector banks may not offer fancy financial packages which multinational and few other companies offer. But the compensation in these banks with the recent wage revision and including perquisites is quite good. And there is an element of job security too. The housing and medical facilities are also considered attractive.

The expansion mode in which public sector banks in India are, is creating large number of opportunities for young people to choose banking as their career.

Career progression of Officers

1. Junior Management Grade – Scale I: Officer
2. Middle Management Grade – Scale II: Manager
3. Middle Management Grade – Scale III: Senior Manager
4. Senior Management Grade – Scale IV: Chief Manager
5. Senior Management Grade Scale V: Assistant General Manager
6. Top Management Grade Scale VI: Deputy General Manager
7. Top Management Grade Scale VII: General Manager

Category of the Banks and Name

Government Banks

State Bank and it’s co-ordinating units (State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiyala, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travencor).

Public Sector Bank

Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Maharashtra,  Bank  of  India,  Bank  of Baroda, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Bank, India Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of  Commerce,  Punjab  National  Bank, Punjab & Sindh Bank, Syndicate Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India, Union Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, IDBI Bank, Bhartiya Mahila Bank Private Sector Bank Catholic Syrian Bank, City Union Bank, Dhan Laxmi Bank, Federal Bank, Jammu & Kashmir  Bank,  Karnataka  Bank,  Karur Vaishya Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Nainital Bank, Ratnakar Bank, South Indian Bank, Tamil Nadu Mercentile Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Indusind Bank, Yes Bank.

source: employmentnews.gov.in