Despite technological advancements, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), making headway in multiple sectors across the globe, India’s largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, sees its use as an opportunity to move people from the backend to the front-end, instead of laying them off.
Sashidhar Jagdishan, Chief Executive and Managing Director of HDFC Bank, said India is a “market throbbing with opportunities for financial services and a long runway for growth”, which demands human resources to man the front-ends and engage with customers, a role that can’t be replaced by AI.
“Frankly, AI is not going (to result in) any layoff whatsoever in our bank, at least. Because I see this as a massive opportunity to move people from the backend to the front-end or to the ‘technology end’,” the senior official said, in post-earnings call, when asked about the increasing role of AI in the banking sector.
While a major Southeast Asian powerhouse’s chief executive recently remarked that he had not added people to the workforce for the first time in 15 years despite business growth, and pointed towards a 10 per cent shrinkage in staff because of AI over the next 3 years, the HDFC Bank has added about 5,000 employees in the last six months to take its overall base to over 2.20 lakh at the end of September.
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However, the bank is carrying out some innovative “lighthouse experiments” in technologies, including generative AI, confirmed Jagdishan, which will deliver its advantages in the next 18-24 months.
The “game plan”, he said, is to reduce the number of people in the backend and use the same people on the front-end, adding that the bank will disclose the “silent” efforts undertaken by it at the tech-front at the “right time”.
“It’s only going to change the mix of where our people are going to be positioned. But, it is not going to reduce people, apart from the normal attrition that occurs,” Jagdishan said.
The HDFC Bank’s investments are aimed at “helping the profits in the future, and the efforts revolve around re-engineering processes, reducing turnaround times and enhancing customer experience”, the CEO said, adding that appropriate guardrails have been put in place so that decision-making work is not passed down to the AI tools.
“I hope it works. These are all lighthouse experiments; we are putting our might and hard work into that particular thing. Some will work, some will not. We are reasonably optimistic that these low-hanging fruits should work,” the CEO said.
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