MUMBAI: At least half a dozen private sector banks including Kotak Mahindra Bank , HDFC Bank, RBL Bank and Axis Bank are set to hire nearly 1 lakh people in the next financial year, as they aim to grab market share in the retail lending space vacated by non-banking finance companies, staffing firm TeamLease Services estimates.These recruitments will likely be in the branch-banking space across the nook and corner of the country, suggesting that the banks are expecting a revival in retail loan growth. Private banks are focusing more on retail businesses for which they need branch-level people,” said Ajay Shah, a vice-president and the head of recruitment at TeamLease. “This recruitment drive would be about 30% higher than this fiscal year. Both freshers and experienced people will be tried.”Salaries will be in the range of Rs 18,000 to Rs 1 lakh a month, depending on experience and portfolios, according to TeamLease.Banks have already started informing staffing firms about their requirements.The minimum qualification for these positions would be graduation, while MBAs and post-graduation degrees in certain subjects could get a preference. The new recruits will be posted as branch heads, or operation or sales managers.Kotak Mahindra Bank expects to add about 12,000-15,000 employees in the fiscal year starting April.“Primarily, the recruitment will be in frontline profiles in retail banking,” said the bank’s group chief HR officer, Sukhjit Pasricha. “These include core banking roles like acquisition, relationship and service where we continue to hire at an ever-growing pace, as well as in specialised and niche new-age technology roles.”HDFC Bank is likely to appoint about 30,000 people mostly in retail operations, a person with direct knowledge of its hiring plan said. The bank did not reply to ET’s email seeking comment till press time Tuesday.RBL plans to recruit more than 2,000 people next fiscal year keeping pace with this year’s recruitment drive. The bank is expected to have around 400 branches by March 31 this year. “We are seeing growth at every level for our retail, branch banking, financial inclusion and cards business leading to job creation across the spectrum,” executive director Rajeev Ahuja said.Axis Bank is expected hire around 30,000 people for the next financial year.“Our recruitment process involves more of academia interface programmes, campus partnerships, employee referrals and hiring through our bank’s career site,” said Rajkamal Vempati, its head of human resources. “With the proliferation of information, increasingly the trend that we see is that candidates reach out directly and our sourcing strategy leverages people who reach out directly.”The bank’s hiring would not be limited to the traditional banking skills, but would also be aimed at building capacity in digital and technology roles, Vempati said.Non-banking finance companies have been facing a tough time with business shrinking over the year and half. Barring a few branded companies, most of them are struggling to raise money.