India banks dabble in Wall Street-lite job culls

The rise of automation, though, whether due to AI or less advanced technology, is likely to increase pressure to reduce staff numbers. A substantial share of new business, for example, now comes from attracting new retail customers digitally, reducing the need to keep expanding and staffing branches. And AI capabilities are making humans increasingly redundant at routine functions like fraud monitoring and data analysis.

At Axis Bank, where staff numbers fell 3%, CEO Amitabh Chaudhry has set targets that include using AI to automate and augment half of its customer calls in the current financial year. HDFC, which reported a 2% workforce reduction, is applying AI to retail credit decisions and trade transactions.

MUMBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India’s banks may need to take some lessons in layoffs from Wall Street. Staffing levels at HDFC Bank, ICICI, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra fell by up to 4% during the 12 months to the end of March after years of increases. It’s largely the result of businesses maturing, revenue growth slowing and more tasks getting automated. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and others routinely dump more. But India generally frowns on making people redundant. AI is likely to force its financial services firms – and others – to look past the taboo and embrace deeper cuts.