Mumbai, Oct 19 (PTI) The country’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank does not see the use of artificial intelligence leading to any layoffs, a top company official said. The lender, which had 2.20 lakh employees as of September, is conducting some “lighthouse experiments” in technologies, including generative AI, that will deliver its benefits in the next 18-24 months, HDFC Bank CEO and MD Sashidhar Jagdishan said on Saturday. “Frankly speaking, at least AI is not going to result in any layoffs whatsoever in our bank. Because I see it as a massive opportunity to move people from the back end to the front end or to the technology side,” Jagdishan told reporters in the post-earnings call, responding to a specific question about AI’s impact on jobs. “It’s just going to change the mix of where our people are going to be positioned. But it’s not going to reduce people, apart from normal attrition that we have,” he added in the comments that come amid heightened concerns about the impact of AI on jobs across sectors. Even in banking, a major Southeast Asian powerhouse’s CEO recently noted that it has not added people to the workforce for the first time in 15 years, despite business growth, and pointed to a 10 percent reduction in staff due to AI over the next 3 years. In the past six months, HDFC Bank has added around 5,000 employees to take its overall base to over 2.20 lakh at the end of September. Jagdishan said India is a market with opportunities for financial services and a long runway for growth, which requires many people to man the front-ends to engage with customers and also keep innovating by adopting the best that technological developments have to offer. He said HDFC Bank’s investments are aimed at helping profits in the future, and the efforts revolve around redesigning processes, reducing turnaround times and improving customer experience. Currently, the bank is “quietly” undertaking efforts on the technology front and will disclose its work in due course. He made it clear that the bank has put appropriate safeguards in place and is not handing over any decision-making work to the AI tools. The “game plan” is to reduce the number of people in the back and use the same people in the front, he added. “I hope it works. These are all lighthouse experiments; we put our strength and hard work into that particular thing. Some will work, some won’t. We’re pretty optimistic that this low-hanging fruit should work,” the CEO said.
HDFC Bank doesn’t see AI leading to layoffs: CEO
