New Delhi, Nov. 16 (PTI): The State Bank of India (SBI) today said it would recruit 25,000 people this fiscal. The announcement comes at a time when major banks are cutting jobs to reduce costs amid the global slowdown.

“For the last so many years, the bank has not been recruiting people. I understand the problem. This year, we are recruiting 20,000 in the clerical cadre and 5,000 supervisory staff,” SBI chairman . P. Bhatt said at a meeting of the bank’s officers’ association in the capital.

In recent times, many financial institutions have handed out pink slips to employees as a cost-cutting measure because of the economic downturn.

The world’s largest bank, Citigroup, plans to lay off at least 10,000 employees and raise its credit card interest rates as part of its plans to return to profitability.

US credit group American Express will also lay off 7,000 employees that constitute 10 per cent of its workforce.

According to Bhatt, the SBI’s business amounts to more than Rs 10 lakh crore.

The bank also plans to increase the number of its ATMs to 15,000 from 9,000.

“Today we have got the largest technical network in the world. Around 25,000 units are connected on core banking,” he said.

The bank was also improving in other areas as well, he said. “We have become the leader in providing home loans this year. In education loan, also, our share is 57 per cent,” Bhatt said.

The SBI has pitched for further lowering of key policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India, now that inflation has come down to single digit at 8.98 per cent. “Interest rates should be lowered further to kick-start the economy,” Bhatt said.