News: ICICI to hire 40,000 annually

(PTI 28/09/2006) Mumbai - ICICI, the country's largest private sector financial services group, said it expected to hire up to 40,000 people a year for the next three to five years to service expected growth in the country's burgeoning banking and insurance sectors.

The recruitment drive by ICICI, which currently employs about 1,50,000 staff, is part of efforts by the country's financial groups to step up their retail banking services and to prepare for expected liberalisation of the insurance industry.

Indian industry is suffering from an acute shortage of skilled manpower as breakneck growth across a range of sectors, from finance and manufacturing to the IT and business process outsourcing industries, soaks up available talent. The country's banking industry has reported double-digit revenue growth over the last few years on the back of a booming consumer finance sector, with a newly affluent middle class buying homes, cars and appliances.