Public sector lender, Indian Bank is planning to recruit 1700 clerks in the near future as well as officers, hinted Chairman and Managing Director, Mr T.M. Bhasin.

"The proposed recruitment will take care of replacement needs due to retirements as well as attrition,'' Mr Bhasin said.

As per actuals, the bank is likely to hire more than 1000 clerks, 600 officers and 100 specialist officers.

He said that there is a current need of work force owing to superannuation, attrition and expansion (including financial inclusion) and this would lead to hiring for the entire next fiscal.

Speaking about offering mobile banking services, Bhasin said, "At present, we are talking to some service providers to have a formal tie-up. The formal launch of complete range of mobile banking services would be done thereafter."

The bank aims to lay focus on increasing its non interest income in serveral ways like sale of insurance, loan-syndications and bank guarantees, among others.

"At present, non-interest income accounts for 11 per cent of the total income which was at Rs 2,641 crore as on December 31, 2010. We are aiming at increasing this to 15 per cent over next two years,'' Mr Bhasin said.

"The NIM for quarter ended December 2010 was 3.84 per cent which was an improvement over 3.71 as on March 2010. We hope to maintain this for some time by prudent management of balance sheet, asset-liability and steady income stream,'' he added.