Bank of Maharashtra to recruit specialised staff in 2009-10

Bank of Maharashtra has decided to recruit specialised staff, including IIM graduates, chartered accountants and cost accountants, for the first time as part of its major recruitment drive to employ 600 people this year.

"We are recruiting specialised people such as management graduates from IIM, CA and cost accounts who will be entrusted with various responsibilities in credit management, risk management for effectively meeting our growth objectives," Bank of Maharashtra General Manager (Human Resources) B K Mahajan told reporters here today.

The bank this year will be recruiting 600 people, which will also include agricultural officers, financial officers etc, he said. In the last fiscal, the bank recruited 400 people.

With recessionary phase hitting the employment across various verticals of the industrial sector, the bank has managed to bargain well especially with management graduates of IIM by paying lesser than what they used to be getting earlier.

"We are taking advantage of the recession as we have been able to recruit IIM graduates through on campus recruitment by offering annual package of Rs 6.5-7 lakh against much higher package which used to be offered to them and we have got good response for our offers in this time of slowdown," he said. The bank has already recruited 100 IIM graduates.

With the total outlay of Rs 60 crore, the bank has also planned to open 75-100 new branches primarily in north and northeast sector in order to increase its presence in the country.

"Out of total new branches which have been planned for opening, 50 per cent of that will be opened in northern region as well as northeastern states such as Assam, Meghalya because we want to enhance our foothold in the country," he said.

Currently, it has 1,428 branches and majority of them are located in and adjoining states of Maharashtra. With average growth of 25 per cent in advances and deposits, the bank is also targeting to achieve a total business of Rs 1,10,000 crore by 2009-10 against Rs 87,072 crore in 2008-09. He admitted that in last fiscal, the bank posted only 16.18 per cent growth in advances segment due to recession.