Why to choose banking sector for your career in India

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Banking career in India

Post liberalization of the 1990s, banking in India was transformed from class banking to mass banking. What followed were a number of private banks setting shop in India. Today, there are 28 nationalized banks, 29 foreign banks, and 24 private banks in India. Together, they account for 53,000 branches across India. 

 Banks as a career option in India has always been a sought after among people. A banking job is a white collar job, which, compared to other fields, has less stressful hours of working. What also tips the balance in favor of the field is the pay package, which has increased manifold over the years.

 If you are a qualified graduate from a good institute, you could start off with a package of anywhere between INR 20,000 and INR 30,000 per month in a good bank. And if you keep working hard, sky is the limit for you.

Nature of work

Just like every other field, there are different departments in the banking sector too. Broadly speaking, there are two levels in the banking sector- clerical level and officer level. Clerical level work involves handling front office tasks, checking coins and notes etc.

 Officer level work involves dealing with customers, handling their portfolios and other similar tasks.

Private banks also hire trainees from good educational institutions. As a trainee, you can understand the working of a bank, before you are qualified enough to be given a full time job portfolio.

Scope and promotions

Scope of a banking career in India is immense. With coming of new banks, competition in the field has increased. Banks are offering higher pay packages in order to retain and attract talent. In other words, if you are good, you could land up a plum package in no time at all.

However, the growth and promotion scenario differs according to the bank you are in. Public sector banks usually do not have a merit policy. You get promoted in a public sector bank only after you have served certain number of years at a position.

 With private sector banks, however, promotions are largely on a merit basis. If you can deliver results consistently and add to the bottom line of an organization, you could quickly reach the managerial level in no time.

 Thus, it is always better to get started at the officer grade if you want a banking job in a public sector bank. That ways, you have a better chance of reaching higher levels in the organization by the time you retire.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria for public sector and private sector banks differ. Public sector banks conduct a common all India test for various positions in a bank viz. clerical, probationary officers, and specialist officers. These exams are conducted 2-3 times in a year.

 Private sector banks, on the other hand, largely recruit through campus placements from good educational institutions.

 To land a good banking job in a reputed bank, you need to have good communication skills, and good interpersonal skills, apart from basic qualification. As for the myth that only economics or commerce graduates can make a career in banking, that is absolutely not true.

 With the IT revolution in banking, and increasing competition, banks employ students from a variety of fields.

New Bank Recruitment 2012 - 2013

Name of the Bank	Name of the post	No of Jobs	Last Date
Punjab National Bank	Specialist Officer	740	17/08/2012
State Bank of India	Clerk for associate banks	7740	13/08/2012
Allahabad Bank	Clerk	1100	23/08/2012