Axis Bank’s headcount dropped to around 1.01 lakh at the end of FY26 from 1.04 lakh a year earlier, with managing director and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry attributing the decline to sustained technology investments rather than targeted cuts.
The reduction, disclosed during a post-earnings conference call on Saturday, was broad-based across functions and not linked to any specific business segment. The bank simultaneously expanded its physical network with nearly 400 new branches added during the year, requiring additional hiring and training.
Speaking to analysts, Chaudhry said the headcount drop reflects the bank’s long-term focus on digital transformation. “Headcount optimisation is a natural outcome” of the strategy, he said, indicating that consistent technology spending is now translating into operational efficiency and higher employee productivity.
Axis Bank has allocated between 9 and 10% of its operating expenditure to technology over the past three to four years, Chaudhry noted, with the spending sustained irrespective of business cycles to build a long-term strategic advantage.
The bank clarified that artificial intelligence has not yet been a meaningful contributor to the decline in headcount. AI tools at the bank are currently being used to streamline processes and accelerate end-to-end transaction times rather than replace roles, the management said.
For the March quarter, Axis Bank reported a net profit of ₹7,071 crore, compared with ₹7,117 crore in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. The bank has proposed a dividend of ₹1 per share for FY26.
The reduction places Axis Bank among a small set of large Indian financial institutions where automation and digital investment are visibly resetting workforce architecture, even as branch expansion continues. The development comes weeks after the bank’s February 2026 announcement of a Hire-Train-Deploy programme aimed at building a future-ready relationship manager pipeline for its Commercial Banking Group.
