HDFC Bank doesn’t see AI leading to layoffs: CEO

HDFC Bank CEO Sashidhar Jagdishan clarified that AI adoption won't cause layoffs, instead shifting staff from backend to customer-facing or tech roles. Despite experimenting with generative AI, the bank sees it as a growth tool, not a job threat

Mumbai: The country’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank does not see its use of artificial intelligence leading to any layoffs, a top company official has said.

The lender, which had 2.20 lakh employees as of September, is carrying out some “lighthouse experiments” in technologies, including generative AI, which will deliver its advantages in the next 18-24 months, HDFC Bank Chief Executive and Managing Director Sashidhar Jagdishan said on Saturday.

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“Frankly, AI is not going (to result in) any layoff whatsoever in our bank, at least. Because I see this as a massive opportunity to move people from the backend to the front end or to the technology end,” Jagdishan told reporters in the post-earnings call, replying to a specific question on the impact of AI on jobs.

“It’s only going to change the mix of where our people are going to be positioned. But, it is not going to reduce people apart from normal attrition that we have,” he added in the remarks that come amid heightened concerns over the impact of AI on jobs across sectors.

Even in banking, a major Southeast Asian powerhouse’s chief executive had recently remarked that he has not added people to the workforce for the first time in 15 years despite business growth, and pointed towards a 10 per cent shrinkage in staff because of AI over the next 3 years.

In the last six months, HDFC Bank has added about 5,000 employees to take its overall base to over 2.20 lakh at the end of September.

Jagdishan said India is a market throbbing with opportunities for financial services and a long runway for growth, which demands a lot of people to be manning 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 the profits in the future, and the efforts revolve around re-engineering processes, reducing turnaround times and enhancing customer experience.

At present, the bank is “silently” undertaking efforts on the tech front and will disclose its work at the right time.

He made it clear that the bank has put appropriate guardrails in place and is not passing any decision-making work to the AI tools.

The “game plan” is to reduce the number of people in the back end and use the same people on the front end, he added.

“I hope it works. These are all lighthouse experiments; we are putting our might and hard work into that particular thing. Some will work, some will not. We are reasonably optimistic that these low-hanging fruits should work,” the CEO said.