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State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, plans to recruit around 12,000 personnel and add nearly 250 branches during the ongoing financial year, Chairman C S Setty said. The hiring will cover both clerical and officer cadres.
“In terms of recruitment, I think we would be looking at around 11,000 to 12,000 appointments across both clerical and officer cadres this year. This number may vary depending on retirements and emerging requirements, but I expect we should close the year with around 12,000 recruitments,” Setty told PTI.
The chairman said SBI undertook large-scale recruitment last year, including appointing 1,500 specialist IT officers. The bank does not require a similar level of IT hiring this year.
“Last year, we did fairly large recruitment because we took on 1,500 specialist IT officers. This year, we do not need such a large number on the IT (information technology) side,” he said.
SBI’s workforce stood at over 2.45 lakh employees as of March 2026, making it one of India’s largest employers. During 2025-26, the bank hired 4,640 officers, 19,340 associates and 1,653 contractual staff, taking total hires to 25,633, according to its FY26 annual report.
SBI also plans to expand its branch network, despite its already extensive presence across the country. Setty said there remains “white space” in several locations, including new residential colonies and commercially active districts.
“We also are looking at rationalization of some of the branches, which means that our number broadly will be growing by maybe 200 to 250 per year on the net side,” he said.
SBI and its subsidiary, SBI Capital Markets Ltd, also plan to dilute up to a 1 percent stake in the National Stock Exchange through its proposed Rs. 30,000-crore IPO.
SBI plans to divest 0.65 percent, while SBI Capital Markets plans to divest 0.35 percent. SBI currently holds a 3.23 percent stake in NSE, while SBI Capital Markets holds 4.33 percent.
The NSE IPO could become India’s biggest-ever public issue, surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s Rs. 27,858.75-crore listing in 2024 and LIC’s Rs. 20,557.23-crore offering in 2022.
Setty also clarified that SBI does not plan to monetize other subsidiaries immediately.
