MUMBAI: It may be a season of job losses and eroding businesses for many in these post-demonetisation days but small and mid-sized financial services firms are on a hiring spree, pooling in precious human resource talent during these difficult times. They say this reverse trend is part of their talent investment for the future.Lenders, including Bandhan Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Yes Bank, JM Financial and IndoStar are hiring scores of executives across the board in a reversal of the current trend as they aim to expand businesses. They have been tapping talents in branch banking, retail, digital and credit verticals.New generation private sector lender Yes Bank is recruiting about 500 people every month while Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank has hired 4,000 employees in the current financial year and the payroll is still on the rise. Yes Bank did not reply to ET’s queries as it is in the silent period ahead of its December quarter earnings.“Demonetisation impact is temporary,” said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, CEO of Bandhan Bank. “Going forward, business opportunities will be huge. We have been opening branches every week across all Indian states. We need to recruit to keep pace with this expansion.”“We hope to recruit somewhere around that (4,000 employees) in FY17-18,” he said.The bank has launched the Bandhan Nextgen Bankers’ Programme which aims at nurturing young graduates with sector-specific knowledge and the required skillsets.Banks are mostly hiring in smaller cities and towns as bankers see a higher potential in expanding their branches there. According to placement agents, smaller financial services firms are expanding in non-metro and rural strongholds, to tap more business.“Demonetisation has not affected small banks (unlike large banks) as they are in startup mode,” said Kunal Sen, senior vice-president, TeamLease Services. “Small and mid-sized banks are recruiting mostly from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, which is their catchment area. Small banks have completed their leadership hiring and are now hiring for feet-on-street (sales) and branch banking roles.”Average remuneration for staff in ‘feet-on-street’ role is Rs 10,000-15,000 per month while those taking up branch banking roles would earn around Rs 20,000-40,000 per month.Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) plans to hire 500 people in 2017. While around 300-400 people will be hired at the entry level, the remaining will be for various other levels.“We see business optimism coming back next financial year. We are accordingly preparing ourselves,” said NS Venkatesh, executive director of Lakshmi Vilas Bank. “As the demonetisation drive fuels chances of a cashless economy, we are in the process of hiring people with expertise in digital technology.” “The bank is undergoing a transformation. Hence, we plan to hire more specialists,” he said.IndoStar, a non-banking finance company, jointly owned by Goldman Sachs Inc and Everstone Capital, plans to double its headcount in FY18 as it wants to build new business platforms.“We will be strengthening our LAP (loan against property) business by launching new branches as well as increasing our frontline sales team. Business loans and our home finance business are moving into launch mode, we are looking at talent acquisition at leadership levels to begin with,” said Aditi Nair, vice-president, human capital management at IndoStar.The company intends to strengthen its geographical footprint with branches in six more cities including Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Indore and Jaipur.Investment bank JM Financial too is expanding its human capital, eyeing future deals and expanding its lending business.“We are in a phase of planned and steady growth and most of our hiring is done to support business augmentation, both existing and new,” said Anil Salvi Group head, human resource & administration at JM Financial.