New Delhi: India’s public sector banks will hire 63,200 people in the current financial year, nearly a third of which will be by the State Bank of India, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday.

“There are huge job opportunities for young men and women in banks... public sector banks will hire 63,200 people this year,” Chidambaram said at a media conference after meeting heads of public sector banks and financial institutions here.

Chidambaram said there were a total of 84,489 vacancies in the public sector banks at the end of the last financial year, of which 63,200 posts will be filled up in 2012-13.

The finance minister said the fresh recruitment will be in clerical as well as officers’ positions.

“It’s a very attractive career, and young men and women must take advantage of it,” he said.

Chidambaram said private sector banks were also likely to increase their headcounts in the current financial year.