Reduction in State Bank of India employee headcounts is because of scheduled retirements and not due to adoption of artificial intelligence and other digital banking initiatives, said Nitin Chugh, deputy managing director and head (digital banking & transformation).
The reduction is because of the high number of retirees coupled with the fact that the bank takes a fixed number of probationary intakes, he said in reply to a question on job losses because of AI.
Speaking at an Microsoft AI Boardroom - BFSI edition, Chugh said that while there is no risk to employment in the banking sector because of AI, it may lead to reskilling and change in the nature of job. In fact, SBI is doubling its data science team and making specialized hirings on the technology side.
“In banking, because it's a customer-facing business, and even though we have digitized much of our interfaces, it hasn't taken away the need for people to interface with bankers as human beings. Most banks, if you notice, are continuing to add branches and workforce. AI is not going to substantially move that requirement,” he said.
According to Chugh, SBI is experimenting with the usage of AI co-pilots and aims to introduce agentic AI for its front-end as well as back-end staff. However, he did not give any specific timeline for the same.
The reduction is because of the high number of retirees coupled with the fact that the bank takes a fixed number of probationary intakes, he said in reply to a question on job losses because of AI.
Speaking at an Microsoft AI Boardroom - BFSI edition, Chugh said that while there is no risk to employment in the banking sector because of AI, it may lead to reskilling and change in the nature of job. In fact, SBI is doubling its data science team and making specialized hirings on the technology side.
“In banking, because it's a customer-facing business, and even though we have digitized much of our interfaces, it hasn't taken away the need for people to interface with bankers as human beings. Most banks, if you notice, are continuing to add branches and workforce. AI is not going to substantially move that requirement,” he said.
According to Chugh, SBI is experimenting with the usage of AI co-pilots and aims to introduce agentic AI for its front-end as well as back-end staff. However, he did not give any specific timeline for the same.
