SBI to hire around 12,000 staff next year, open 250 new branches
SBI chairman C S Setty says the bank plans large-scale hiring and branch expansion in FY27, while also detailing a proposed NSE stake sale.
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State Bank of India, the country's largest public sector bank, is set to hire around 12,000 people in financial year 2026-27. The information was shared by the bank's chairman, C S Setty. According to him, the bank could make between 11,000 and 12,000 appointments this year across the clerical and officer cadres combined. However, the figure is not final and may change depending on retirements and the bank's requirements.
In the last financial year, the bank had hired in large numbers, including around 1,500 specialist IT officers. But this time, Setty said, there is no need for hiring on the same scale in the IT section.
By March 2026, SBI's total employee count had crossed 2.45 lakh. According to the bank's financial year 2026 report, a total of 25,633 people were hired in 2025-26. This included 4,640 officers, 19,340 associates and 1,653 contractual staff. This time, the main focus of hiring is likely to remain on the clerical and officer cadres, though the bank has not yet shared full details of how many posts will be in each cadre.
Besides hiring, SBI is also preparing to expand its branch network. In financial year 2026-27, the bank plans to add around 200 to 250 new branches on a net basis. Setty said SBI's network is already very large, but there is still scope to increase the bank's presence in some areas. The bank wants to strengthen its reach in districts where new colonies are coming up and business activity is growing. Alongside this, work is also underway to rationalise some branches.
The chairman also gave details of the proposed initial public offering of the National Stock Exchange (NSE). SBI and its subsidiary, SBI Capital Markets Limited, are together preparing to sell around 1 percent of their stake in NSE. Of this, SBI could sell around 0.65 percent and SBI Capital Markets around 0.35 percent. However, this stake could be lower depending on the participation of other shareholders.
Currently, SBI holds a 3.23 percent stake in NSE, and SBI Capital Markets holds 4.33 percent. The proposed initial public offering, worth Rs 30,000 crore, has already received regulatory approval and is being described as India's largest IPO so far. It is being compared with the issues of Hyundai Motor India, LIC, Paytm, Tata Capital and Coal India.
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