The foremost private sector bank in India, the ICICI Bank, is working on plans to expand its operating network to 2,000 branches, counting the additional nearly 580 new branches that the bank intends opening this year.  

However, despite the proposed expansion of the bank’s network, there are no plans to hire new employees. A part of the bank’s 36,000-strong existing workforce would be suitably re-deployed suitably for the management of the yet-to-be-opened new branches.

Talking about the expansion and re-deployment of workforce plan in an interview with the PTI, Chanda Kochhar - the ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO – said: “We will set up 580 new branches this year ... one and half years ago we had 750 branches and one year from now, once we open these 580 branches, we will have 2,000 branches.”

Kochhar added that the bank would undertake the requisite steps to would be “re-skill and re-train” some of its employees, depending on the needs of the expanded branch network.

When questioned about whether the employees were looking forward to any salary hike or other monetary benefits, Kochhar said that a “moderate hike” had already been announced for the year.