Data focus: Central Bank of India and Bank or Baroda have the highest part of the empty posts at PSBs

PSBs are increasingly dependent on a huge parallel workforce of more than one Lakh contractual and outsourced employees

Fresh manpower data from 30 June 2025 reveal that various banks in the public sector (PSBs) work with considerable staff shortages. When measured as a share in the total manpower requirements rated, the Central Bank of India emerges as the most understood, with 8.64 percent of the punished items that are empty. Of a requirement of 36,544 employees, the bank has 3,156 non -filled positions.

Bank of Baroda follows closely, with 7.9 percent vacancies – 6,396 posts that are not filled from 81,264 required. The Bank of Maharashtra has 980 empty functions against its need for 16,439 employees, leaving a six percent gap.

Indian Bank reports a vacancy of 5.7 percent and Punjab National Bank is confronted with a shortage of 4.55 percent.

The vacancy ratios emphasize uneven personnel patterns in PSBs, with some that work almost full strength, while others are confronted with important gaps in the field of resources. Despite a rated workforce of more than 7.9 LAKH employees, PSBs continue to struggle with more than 32,000 vacancies in officer, clerk and sub-roles, even while increasingly trusting a huge parallel workforce of more than one LAKH contractual and outsourced employees.

Structural shift

Data presented by the Ministry of Finance in the Lok Sabha in August The first week shows that although 96 percent of the assessed personnel positions have been filled in, the ongoing under -representation in combination with a growing dependence on outsourced manpower led by the State Bank of India emphasizes a structural shift in the public banking.

Of the 7.91.023 positions rated in PSBs, 7.58.468 have currently been filled in, so that 32,567 posts remain empty. These include 17,500 officer posts, 12,861 clerks and 2,206 sub-Staff positions.

Among all PSBs, the State Bank of India reports the highest number of total vacancies on 9,088, followed by Bank of Baroda (6,396), Punjab National Bank (4,898) and Central Bank of India (3,156). Punjab & Sind Bank has the least vacancies at 440, while Union Bank of India has 500 empty posts.

Parallel workforce

The data also shows that PSBs are increasingly dependent on a parallel workforce. A total of 1,01,049 contractual and outsourced employees worked in 12 large PSBs on June 30, 2025.

Staatsbank of India alone has 64,995 contractual employees, accounting for more than 64 percent of the total contractual staff in all PSBs. This reflects a disproportionate share.

After SBI, Canara Bank (6,538), Union Bank of India (5,627) and Indian Bank (5,118) report the following highest figures. Even smaller banks such as Punjab & Sind Bank (1,525) and Indian Overseas Bank (1,415) show considerable dependence on contractual staff. Uco Bank, although the smallest in this context, still has 235 outsourced employees.

This trend points to a systemic informalization of the workforce of the public bank, which suggests that the share of full -time employees will probably decrease in the future. Such a shift can reduce the long -term psbs of PSBs.

According to the Ministry of Finance, contractual employees are involved in non-core bank activities such as household, security and ATM regulations, according to RBI guidelines for contractual recruitment.

Published on August 12, 2025