India’s top lenders have shown an urgency in recruiting specialized, as well as field staff, as they pursue deposit growth in a rising interest rate scenario, and woo customers away from alternative investment tools.

Private sector lenders have upped their hiring mandate by 25% for more field staff besides junior- and mid-management executives with the ability to convince customers to invest in bank fixed deposits, executives at recruiting firms said.

“The hiring sentiment is far stronger than expected with an over 25% rise in demand for field staff from banking clients over the last quarter. We have now created a dedicated team to drive innovative sourcing methods to close the required job mandates,” said Manu Saigal, director for general staffing at staffing firm Adecco.

Banks are rebadging resources from sectors like hospitality and insurance, to meet the demands of their banking clients, Saigal said. The salaries range from ₹13,000-15,000 a month with additional incentives, he added.

Increasing digital access and growing awareness about mutual funds and stock investments have lured customers away from bank FDs in pursuit of higher returns, according to an analysis by Bank of Baroda’s research division in October.

While covid-era ultra-accommodative monetary policy by Reserve Bank of India left banks flush with liquidity with little incentive to raise deposit rates, there is a greater focus on deposit growth right now.

In fact, the lending boom to retail clients, small businesses, and corporates in the face of slowing deposit growth led to a widening gap between deposit and credit growth by over 700 basis points (bps). Experts said trailing deposit growth, along with the central bank’ decision to unwind some covid-era policies, acted as a wake-up call and banks have now turned to sourcing more deposits.

For the fortnight ended 18 November, bank credit growth was at 17.6% from a year earlier while deposit growth was at 9.6%, showed RBI data.