MUMBAI: HDFC Bank, the country’s largest private sector lender, does not expect its adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) to result in job cuts, Chief Executive and Managing Director Sashidhar Jagdishan said on Saturday.
The bank, which employed around 2.20 lakh people as of September, is currently conducting several “lighthouse experiments” in emerging technologies, including generative AI, expected to yield benefits over the next 18–24 months, Jagdishan said during the post-earnings media interaction.
“Frankly, AI will not lead to any layoffs in our bank — at least not in the foreseeable future,” he said. “We see this as a massive opportunity to redeploy people from backend operations to customer-facing or technology roles.”
He clarified that while the composition of roles may change, the overall workforce size would remain stable, apart from routine attrition. His comments come amid growing global concern that AI could displace workers across industries.
In contrast, a leading Southeast Asian bank’s CEO recently noted that despite business growth, they had not expanded headcount for the first time in 15 years and anticipated a 10% staff reduction over the next three years due to AI adoption.
Over the past six months, HDFC Bank added about 5,000 employees, taking its total strength beyond 2.20 lakh as of September-end. Jagdishan emphasized that India’s financial sector continues to offer strong growth prospects, requiring more staff in customer engagement and innovation.
He said the bank’s technology investments aim to boost future profitability by re-engineering processes, cutting turnaround times, and improving customer experience.
Currently, HDFC Bank is “silently working” on multiple technology initiatives and will reveal them at an appropriate time, Jagdishan added. He also stressed that AI tools will not be used for decision-making, as the bank has set up strict guardrails to ensure responsible deployment.
“Our game plan is to reduce backend roles and redeploy those employees to the front end,” he said. “These are all lighthouse experiments — some will work, some may not — but we’re confident that the low-hanging fruits will yield results.”
