UTI Bank [Get Quote], the country's third largest private sector lender, will ramp up its workforce by adding 4,500 people to its present strength this fiscal as part of an aggressive expansion plan for its retail business.

The bank's headcount stood at 9,980 as on March 31, 2007 and the planned hiring spree would add by 45 per cent to its total workforce.

"We plan to increase our employee strength by about 4,500 during this fiscal, which would be mostly for the retail business," UTI Bank president (HR) S Bhattacharya told PTI.

The bank has plan to open as many as 150 new branches in the country which require a huge chunk of manpower across the different segment of the retail operations, Bhattacharya said.

Besides, new verticals would be added to retail asset business as well, he added.

A part of the new recruitment would also be for the existing branches, but non-retail businesses like treasury, credit cards would not see any significant addition, the official said.

The bank has already initiated the process by inviting application for 240 posts across 25 locations, mostly in the northern region.

The recruitment across different segments would be in 18 profiles, including auto loan, home loan and cross sales.

At present, the Bank has a network of more than 578 branch offices over 2,383 ATMs.

With the deposit base of over Rs 58,000 crore (Rs 580 billion), the bank offers a complete range of retail and corporate services, including retail loans, corporate credit, forex services, investment banking, depository services and investment advisory services.

The bank last year launched its credit cards in gold and silver variants, which are available in 42 cities across the country.

To meet the credit needs, UTI Bank plans to raise around $1 billion through a combination of overseas equity issue and a preferential issue to the promoters.