Top 10 private banks cut over 10k jobs in FY26
India's private banks are reducing their workforce by over 10,000 employees in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, as digitization, automation, and artificial intelligence enable them to expand their business and branches without a proportional increase in manpower. The workforce of the top 10 private banks contracted by 2.6% to 739,452 as of March 31, 2026, after falling by 9,637 in the previous year. This marks a reversal from FY24 when they added 83,645 employees collectively.
The workforce contraction was primarily driven by the four largest private-sector lenders, which reduced their headcount by 14,364 employees in FY26. ICICI Bank led with 6,633 job cuts, followed by HDFC Bank with 3,346 layoffs, Axis Bank with 3,116 employees, and Kotak Mahindra Bank cutting 1,269 positions.
These reductions were partially offset by some midsize lenders. Federal Bank added 1,570 employees, IndusInd Bank hired 1,491 new staff, Yes Bank increased its workforce by 904, IDFC First Bank expanded by 869, and Bandhan Bank added 365 jobs. RBL Bank, however, reduced its workforce by 949 employees.
The trend of workforce optimization continues due to the productivity gains resulting from years of technology investments. Axis Bank's executive director Subrat Mohanty stated that the benefits of AI are yet to fully materialize in headcount reduction, as its current AI support mainly improves processing speed. The effect of AI on workforce reduction is expected to become visible in the coming year.
Despite the decline in gross recruitment, some large banks have accelerated their deployment of AI and automation. Axis Bank's AI-powered employee assistant supports over 84,000 employees and resolves more than 81% of branch queries. ICICI Bank has deployed more than 100 autonomous bots, while Federal Bank has automated over 385 processes.
IDFC First Bank reported that its voice bots deliver productivity about 1.5 times that of human-assisted outbound operations, with more than 90% of disbursals in selected products now automated.
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