BankBazaar.com on Wednesday said FY21 will be a year of growth for the fintech company despite challenges, and it plans to hire over 500 people over the next few months to support business expansion. The company will also roll out wage hikes and promotions across all levels effective January 1, 2021. BankBazaar, which recently announced that its revenues are back to 70 percent of the peak pre-COVID-19 revenue, plans to scale up its digital know your customer (KYC) offerings to facilitate contactless access to credit, a statement said.

”Majority of the over 500 hires (to be added by March 2021) would be for the technology and customer service domains as BankBazaar looks to accelerate innovation and enable faster integration of digital KYC and analytics solutions the key growth drivers for the company,” it added. Hiring will take place across all BankBazaar locations in Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The open positions are mostly in the engineering and product teams, apart from customer support. The company currently has about 1,000 employees.

BankBazaar was on path to hit earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) positivity when COVID-19 hit in March 2020. The company said despite temporary setbacks due to the pandemic, BankBazaar retained the growth momentum with six months of straight revenue growth.

This was achieved without any additional cost-cutting or reduction in employee strength during the pandemic, it added. Adhil Shetty, co-founder and CEO of BankBazaar, said the company’s performance in the last seven months underscores the strength of its technology and its ability to help partners in their journey towards an entirely contactless lending process.

”We are continuing to see an increase in the demand for digital alternatives, and we are readying ourselves with a bigger and more diverse team to drive the next phase of growth and profitability at BankBazaar,” he added. The company’s operating revenue for FY20 was at Rs 80.2 crore. Apart from the hiring effort, the company is also rolling out salary increments and promotions across all levels effective January 1, 2021. Salary hikes will be identical to previous years. The company has also paid out bonuses for FY20 to the eligible employees.

”We believe that FY21 will be a year of growth despite the challenges as India adopts contactless processes more than ever. We are positive about hiring and are looking to welcome professionals who are culturally and technically fit to meet our organisation’s high growth goals,” BankBazaar Chief HR Officer V Sriram said.

BankBazaar’s usual increment cycle is April-March but this was delayed this year after the pandemic-induced lockdown disrupted businesses across the country. The average increment given by the company is upwards of 8 percent. The salary hike has been extended to all employees, even those who were not eligible for a hike in FY20 cycle, Sriram said.