Headcount in top PSUs decline in FY24, Coal India clocks the biggest drop

The drop in headcount is not limited to the information technology sector. Even public sector undertakings (PSUs) continue to witness a shrink in their staff strength over the last few years. Of the top 16 state-owned firms by market capitalisation, all of them, except four have reported declines in their employee count during FY24.

A CNBC-TV18 analysis reveals that 12 PSUs including Coal India, State Bank of India (SBI) and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) have together cut their staff strength by 23,306 in FY24 after a similar magnitude of reduction in FY23.

The biggest drop in headcount was witnessed at Coal India where 4% to 5% of employees are superannuated every year. The country’s largest coal producer reported a net reduction in manpower by 10,349 during the year.

Also Read: PSU IPO: NTPC’s green unit may hit Dalal Street with a ₹10,000 crore issue

In FY23, its employee count had come down by 9,340. For Coal India, the wage bill accounts for 48% of its total expense and the same declined by 1% to ₹48,783 crore in FY24 due to a reduction in manpower.

“As the superannuation and attritions of employees are taking place, it is bound to come down,” Mukesh Agrawal, Director of Finance at Coal India said post-Q3FY24 earnings.

The trend is visible across sectors from banking and manufacturing to energy and minerals. State Bank of India

on the other hand saw its number of employees fall by 3,562 in FY24 after witnessing a reduction of 8,392 in FY23.

Also Read: PSU Order Win: Bharat Electronics wins multiple contracts worth ₹1,155 crore

In fact, the country’s largest lender has been cutting its total headcount over the last five years. The bank has reduced its employee count by 10% since FY19, equating to 25,000 fewer staff. The number of employees at the state-owned lender stood at 2,32,296 at the end of March 31, 2024, which is the highest among listed PSUs.

While Coal India has the second highest headcount at about 2.3 lakh, Punjab National Bank (PNB) comes third with a total headcount of 1,02,349 as of March 2024.

The data further shows that most state-owned lenders including Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Indian Overseas Bank have reduced their staff strength during the financial year.

Also Read: PSU rail stocks alert: RailTel, Rail Vikas Nigam win mega orders

However, companies that added employees in FY24 included SBI Life Insurance, Gail India, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), and Bharat Electronics. While SBI Life Insurance added nearly 3,100 employees during the year, others saw their headcount increase by up to 215.

The top 16 PSUs together boast a market capitalisation of ₹43.7 lakh crore as of Friday’s close, which is 61% of the combined market capitalisation of all listed PSUs.