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SBI bulk hiring update: State Bank of India is set to add up to 4,000 employees in the next year to build a specialised collection team aimed at improving underwriting practices and safeguarding asset quality amid rising lending activity.
SBI Chairman C S Setty told Moneycontrol on the sidelines of the fourth-quarter earnings announcement that the decision was taken to reinforce underwriting and recovery processes as the bank’s loan book keeps expanding.
“Nobody can get this kind of asset quality, and we completely revamped our underwriting. We are now launching a strong collections mechanism. We will be employing almost 3,000 to 4,000 people on the loan-collection front,” Setty told the publication.
Clarifying the recruitment plan, he noted that the fresh hiring would not come from the bank’s existing staff and that State Bank of India would rely on its subsidiary network to fill the positions.
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“They will not come from the existing employee base. Instead, we will look to leverage our subsidiary. They will be on the field but centrally managed by us,” he said.
The country’s largest lender reported a net NPA ratio of 0.39 per cent for the March quarter, improving from 0.47 per cent a year ago, while gross NPA declined to 1.49 per cent from 1.82 per cent.
Earlier on May 8, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman, Challa Sreenivasulu Setty, stated that India’s largest public sector bank faces no funding challenges, citing an excess Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) of approximately Rs 3 lakh crore available on its balance sheet.
Regarding how SBI plans to fund high loan demand without further squeezing profit margins, Setty explained during the Q4FY26 results press conference, “Even 11 per cent deposit growth provides significant absolute growth because our base is very large. Therefore, an 11-12 per cent growth rate in deposits should support a 17 per cent credit growth. More importantly, we have excess SLR, liquidity available in our balance sheet, of about Rs 3 lakh crore. With that available liquidity and our planned deposit growth rate, I believe there is no problem in terms of funding.”
When asked how SBI is preparing for potential disruptions, he said, “We are not facing any crisis regarding POS terminals within our company, particularly our payments subsidiary, which exclusively delivers for us. If concerns arise moving forward, we have sufficient inventory. This is a temporary situation, and we are not facing any concerns as of now.”
The lender delivered a landmark performance for the 2025-26 financial year, reporting its highest-ever annual net profit of Rs 80,032 crore. For the final quarter (Q4FY26), the bank posted a net profit of Rs 19,684 crore, marking a 6 per cent year-on-year increase. This record-breaking bottom line was largely driven by a sharp reduction in loan loss provisions and a steady strengthening of the bank’s balance sheet.
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