SBI Plans Up to 12,000 New Hires, 250 More Branches This Fiscal

The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to recruit around 11,000–12,000 employees during the current financial year as part of efforts to strengthen its workforce and expand its branch network. The country’s largest public sector bank is also looking to add around 200–250 new branches, SBI Chairman C.S. Setty said.
Setty said the final number of recruits could vary depending on employee retirements and the bank’s emerging workforce requirements. However, SBI expects to hire close to 12,000 people by the end of the financial year.
The chairman noted that SBI had undertaken significant recruitment last year, including the appointment of around 1,500 specialised IT professionals. The bank does not expect to require IT hiring on a similar scale this year.

As of March 2026, SBI had more than 2.45 lakh employees. According to its annual report, the bank recruited 25,633 employees during the 2025-26 financial year.
Despite having one of the country’s largest branch networks, SBI still sees considerable scope for expansion, particularly in newly developing residential areas and commercially active districts. At the same time, the bank is rationalising some of its existing branches. Even after this exercise, SBI expects its branch network to record a net annual increase of around 200–250 branches.
SBI May Sell Nearly 1% Stake in NSE

On the proposed divestment of its holding in the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Setty said SBI and its subsidiary SBI Capital Markets are considering selling a combined stake of around 1%.
Under the proposed plan, SBI could sell a 0.65% stake, while SBI Capital Markets may offload 0.35%. However, if other shareholders also sell their holdings, the SBI Group’s total stake sale could eventually be lower than 1%.
SBI currently holds a 3.23% stake in NSE, while SBI Capital Markets owns 4.33%.
NSE received regulatory approval last week for its proposed initial public offering (IPO), which could be worth around ₹30,000 crore. If launched at that size, the issue could become India’s largest IPO.
The current record is held by Hyundai Motor India, which raised ₹27,858.75 crore through its IPO in 2024. Other major IPOs include LIC’s ₹20,557.23-crore issue in 2022, Paytm’s ₹18,300-crore IPO in 2021, Tata Capital’s ₹15,511.87-crore issue in 2025 and Coal India’s ₹15,200-crore offering in 2010.