The Indian government-owned saw a reduction of 2,044 branches and about 13,000 employees in 2022 over the previous year, a major bank employees union said in Sunday.
In 2022, the number of private branches went up by 4,023 to 34,342 branches compared to 2021, according to the AIBEA of the All India Bank Employees' Association.
Private had a staff strength of 534,022 at the end of FY 21, while its staff strength was 357,346 in FY 22, with the staff numbers of several banks not available on their websites, it added.
The AIBEA had 88,265 branches at the end of FY 21 and the number fell to 86,221 in FY 22.
The number of government-owned bank branches in FY 20 was 90,520, according to a report.
The staff strength of government banks was 807,048 in FY 21 and decreased to 794,040 in FY 22, it said, adding that the mergers of government banks in 2020 and the reduction of branch and staff retirements resulted in a reduction in the number of branches and staff.
The public sector banks had had challenging times until FY 21, due to mounting non-performing assets NPAs of which the major share was that of the corporate sector, General Secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said something.
He said the worst part is over with the government banks booking impressive accounting and social profits.
Nearly all banks have come out of RBI's restrictions on the account of Prompt Corrective Actions. He said that the impressive performance was a result of the uncertainty on account of mergers and privatisation.
The AIBEA reported that the 21 government banks had a total business deposit of around 181.402 trillion in FY 22, up from Rs 166.087 trillion in FY 21.
In FY 22, the 21 private sector banks had a total business of Rs 95.70 trillion, up from Rs 83.62 trillion in FY 21.
In FY 22 the private banks in FY 22 logged Rs 946.96 billion as opposed to Rs 692.19 billion in FY 21.