As the economic meltdown has stopped the Indian industry from recruiting people, PSU banks are planning to go on a hiring spree during the ongoing fiscal.

Director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), M Balachandran said, "As per the preliminary estimates, public sector banks are expected to hire over 30,000 people during 2009-10."

IBPS is extending assistance to the financial sector in connection to employees' selection, promotion and placement. The banks are continuously setting up new branches and witnessing business growth, as result of which there have been a large number of employment opportunities in the banking sector.

Further the former CMD of the Bank of India, Balachandran said that the recruitment by the PSU banks would also bridge the gap created due to large scale of superannuation in many banks.

Meanwhile the banks have also started the distribution of insurance policies, mutual fund schemes and other financial products in order to increase its fee based income. Therefore there has been a requirement of some specialized staff in these segments, said Balachandran.

In fact some banks like United Bank of India (UBI) and the Indian Bank have already declared their recruitment plans. Both the banks have issued advertisement for recruitment. UBI is planning hire hiring 900 probationary officers, 500 clerks and 100 specialized officers across various departments. Indian Bank has an opening for 700 clerks and Andhra Bank plans to recruit 550 clerks, 295 probationary officer and 150 officers in other category.

At the same time, there are other sectors like information technology and textile that are laying off employees. The third largest software exporter, Wipro said that it would not hike salaries for now and is also uncertain about campus recruitment.

As per the data collected by the government, more than 1 lakh people in the export have been given pink slips from their employers. Minister of state for commerce and industry Jairam Ramesh said, "A sample survey conducted by the department of commerce for 402 exporting units spread over 17 different sectors, primarily employment oriented, revealed job loss (both direct and indirect) to the tune of 1,09,513 persons during the period August 2008 to mid-January."