Amidst cost-cutting and layoffs worldwide, there is some good news for the Indian job market. At least one bank has announced plans to add 3,000 jobs over the next three years.

The private sector Federal Bank expects to recruit nearly 3,000 people by 2011, its CEO and MD M Venugopal said.

''We expect to recruit about 1,000 people every year for 2 to 3 years. This year we have recruited 700 people and 100 more will be joining soon,'' Venugopal said in New Delhi today.

He said Federal Bank is looking for professionals mainly in the finance and marketing streams, adding that the recruitments will be done mostly through campus placements.

Federal Bank, he said, is on an expansion mode and expects to establish an all-India presence. For this, the bank needs manpower, Venugopal said.

The move comes at a time when some of the global banks like Citigroup, J P Morgan, HSBC and others, smarting under the financial market meltdown, have announced plans for huge reduction in staff strength.

''We still have enough scope to grow...it could be that they have overgrown in size but we are expanding so there is enough scope for us to grow in size,'' Venugopal said.

For the three months ended 30 September 2008, Federal Bank reported a 19.9 per cent increase in net profit at Rs114.28 crore against Rs95.33 crore in the same quarter the previous year. Operating profit increased by 71.5 per cent at Rs302.93 crore from Rs176.62 in the year-earlier period.

Total income during the quarter ended 30 September 2008 was up 38.1 per cent at Rs932.31 crore against Rs675.06 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.