BFSI Sector to add 2.2 lacs number of jobs this year

Financial Inclusion being the agenda of the government, the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) sector will expect to create considerable number of job opportunities. With the issuance of new licences and efforts being made by the RBI and the Government to expand financial services into rural areas, the job opportunities in this sector are expected to
increase significantly.

This year BFSI sector will see job spurt with increase of 24% in hiring this year in comparison to last year which was 20% & add 2.2 Lacs number of jobs this year. This is as per India Skills Report 2016, a joint initiative of PeopleStrong (PeopleStrong is India’s leading human resource (HR) solutions and HR technology company, enriching experience of over 175+ corporate customers and over 500,000 users.), Wheebox (Global Talent Assessment Company), in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry, LinkedIn (World’s largest professional network) & Association of Indian University(AIU)

According to Pankaj Bansal, Co-founder & CEO – PeopleStrong HR Services Pvt Ltd, “Banking and insurance are like chock and cheese in the world of recruitment, banking would be leading the sector in terms of new job creation, though the number of jobs created would be around 2.2 Lacs, the overall market sentiment will be upbeat. As far as insurance is concern with the market maturing, the quality of jobs has improved resulting in a drop in attrition.”

Current economic volatility is exerting pressure on financial organizations to redefine their business processes and operating models. The growing costs due to changing labor laws and employment regulations coupled with the increasing awareness about HRO benefits such as staffing flexibility, access to new technology and skills, and greater alignment between HR and business are some of the key factors driving the BFSI segment's growth in this market.

The hiring will take place across the levels but more action happening more at entry levels & middle management levels. There is demand for degree (35%), Vocational (23%) & Management (21%) candidates. There is very less demand for ITIs, Diplomas & engineers in BFSI sector in comparison. The report states that employers are preferring candidates between 22-29 years having an experience of 5 -10 years. This year demand for freshers has decreased.

Although the sector is headed by women & the success of women in Indian banking is truly inspiring. Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI), Chanda Kochhar (ICICI), Shikha Sharma (Axis Bank), Usha Ananthasubramanian (Punjab National Bank), Naina Lal Kidwai (HSBC), KakuNakhate (Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and ShubhalakshmiPanse (Allahabad Bank) are just some of the names to have broken into the C-suite. The entry level & middle level is still male dominated with Males (68%) & Females (31%) way in comparison to last year Males (65%) & Females(34%).  Though the gap is slightytilted towards females but the sector has to go a long in terms of gender diversity.

Another interesting trend which was observed was Mumbai is true to its stereotype of being the financial capital with majority of the professionals from the finance domain available in Maharashtra. These findings can be leveraged by employers to find the relevant talent pool, government to provide the necessary training in their region and to attract the skill based investment, professionals looking for a change and an ecosystem that nurtures their skills and by students to make informed decisions about career choice.

The report captures the insights from the largest employability test that was spread out to 3000 educational campuses, assessing five lakh students across 29 states and seven union territories from noteworthy educational universities and professional institutes in the country along with the India’s hiring intent survey that reached out to over 150 employers across 12 major sectors.