Recently, questions were raised in Parliament related to declining staff in Public Sector Banks. The questions were:
- Whether it is a fact that the number of employees in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) has been declined considerably since the year 2011 particularly the number of clerks and sub-staff;
- If so, the number of officers, clerks and subordinate staff in the public sector banks as of 2011, 2017 and 2024 and the percentage of clerks and sub-staff to the total number of employees in PSBs according to the latest date available; and
- The reasons for the decline of employees in the PSBs during the last thirteen years?
To this, Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary provided following reply: As per PSBs, the number of officers, clerks and subordinate staff is as under:
| Cadre / Year | 2011 | 2017 | 2024 | As on 1.1.2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Officers | 2,39,997 | 3,19,685 | 4,12,977 | 4,21,584 |
| Clerks | 2,54,232 | 2,69,271 | 2,48,539 | 2,48,173 |
| Sub staff | 1,24,609 | 1,19,288 | 95,199 | 88,851 |
| Total | 6,18,838 | 7,08,244 | 7,56,715 | 7,58,608 |
As on 1.1.2025, the percentage of clerks and sub-staff to the total number of employees is 32.71% and 11.71% respectively. As per inputs received from PSBs, as on 01.01.2025, 95% staff (Clerks and Sub staff) are in position against their business requirement. The small proportion of gap is attributable to attrition on account of superannuation and other usual factors including unplanned exits.
But now, AIBEA General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam has raised objections to it. He said that the data provided in Parliament differs from the official data of RBI.
- Clerical strength as on 2013 : 398,801
- Clerical strength as on 2024 : 246,965
- Reduction : 151,836
About 150,000 clerical posts and about 50,000 substaff posts (total of about 2 lakh vacancies) remain unfilled in the Public Sector Banks. If you add the staff requirement for business improvement, implementation of various Government schemes, etc., the requirement is much more. This is the reason why employees are suffering with heavy workload.
If you compare the private sector Banks, the total staff in private Banks in 2011 was 1,71,071 and in 2024 it was 8,46,530.
AIBEA GS said that it is uncertain how the Minister says that 95% of the clerical and substaff posts are filled up? Is it a statistical error or a deliberate attempt to misinform the people at large? Let it be anything. But we all know that there is acute shortage of staff in the Branches. What you think of this – whether is staff shortage in banks or not – let us know in the comment section.
