A severe staff crunch at the branches for managing the front desk operations has compelled the State Bank of India to resume recruitments in the clerical cadre after almost a gap of 20 years.

The bank plans to induct about 3,600 persons in unionised category as "Customer Relations Associates".

The bank needs people to interface with customers at the branches. All the young graduate personnel (to be inducted in clerical posts) will be computer savvy and sensitive to the client requirements, chairman O P Bhatt told Business Standard.

The country's largest commercial bank currently has large staff to look after branch functions, but many of them are in the higher age bracket (45 years and above).

While these experienced people have received training in computer operations (an essential aspect now), their response time is slower compared with those younger in age, a senior SBI official said.

Large-scale recruitment in the clerical cadre happened in the mid 80s. Regular intake in this category was a common feature during the branch network expansion in the 1970s and 80s. The strength of this cadre is about 80,000 at present.

The favourable response to the voluntary retirement scheme introduced in 2001 and the recent exit policy (where 4,000 employees in award staff category opted to move out of the bank), have put pressure on the existing personnel.