Job alert! In its largest recruitment drive, SBI to hire 9,500 employees: details inside

Country's largest public lender, State bank of India will hire around 9500 employees in various department. SBI will be hiring junior assistants for its customer support and sales functions. 

This will be the bank's largest hiring since 2013. 

According to the report in the Times of India, the banks recruitment drive came at a time when the bank's employee headcount has gone down by over 10,000 during the current fiscal owing to attrition and a voluntary retirement scheme following the merger of associate banks with itself.

Meanwhile, SBI will raise $2 billion under its medium-term note (MTN) programme from international markets outside the US for refinancing its corporate clients. The move follows the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) nod to overseas branches and subsidiaries of Indian banks to refinance ECBs of high-rated (AAA) corporates as well as Navratna and Maharatna PSUs.

Earlier rupee loans could not be refinanced with ECBs which gave a clear advantage to foreign banks.

A senior SBI official told DNA Money, "This is an enabling approvals. We have not hit the market as yet. The bank is expected to look at the appropriate time to hit the market."

The central bank has relaxed the regulation provided the outstanding maturity of the original borrowing is not reduced and all-in-cost of fresh ECB is lower than the existing ECB. SBI has an overseas MTN programme of about $10 billion.

However, Indian banks are not looking at aggressive expansions overseas as the growth in the overseas geographies has been muted. In fact, some of the banks including SBI are looking at streamlining its operations.

The last time SBI raised money under MTN was in March 3, 2017, when it mopped up $500 million. This was a three-year loan. It was the second fund raising by the bank under the MTN programme. This was a Regulation (Reg) S bond which was sold through its London branch priced at 0.95% over the Libor. Under the US Securities Act, Reg S bonds are targeted at foreign investors outside the US.