DBS to raise headcount by up to 25% in India

NEW DELHI: Singapore-based DBS Bank is going to ramp up headcount by as much as 20-25% in the country even as it is laying off over 500 employees in Singapore and Hong Kong, its key business centres.

DBS plans to recruit around 100 people in the entry- and middle-level management in India by the end of 2009 at a time when companies in the financial services sector are going slow on recruitment following the global financial crisis.

The bank in India, is looking to focus on building a strong deposit base for strengthening its retail portfolio. “India is expected to have a high GDP growth rate in the future. We want to strengthen our footprint in the country and are looking at hiring new heads in the next few months,” said DBS Bank CEO Sanjiv Bhasin. DBS Bank started its operations in India in the early 1990s when it opened a representative office in Mumbai.

This was upgraded to a full branch in March 1995. The bank currently operates six branches in Bangalore and Pune apart from the four major metros. It has recently got the licence from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open four new branches in Moradabad, Nasik, Salem and Surat.

The bank had paid up equity capital of Rs 951 crore as of March 2008. It clocked a net profit of Rs 65 crore on total income of Rs 681 crore for 2007-08. The bank’s net worth had more than doubled between FY06 and FY08 to Rs 1,141 crore.

In the same period, its income and profits have grown four times. DBS is the largest bank in Singapore by assets. It is also a prominent player in South-east Asia with operations in 16 markets with more than 15,000 employees in Asia.
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