HSBC has informed earlier this month that it has set a target to hire only women students next year as interns for its Global Service Centres (GSCs), in line with its commitment to promote diversity across the bank.

"Our GSC internship programme is just the latest stage in our efforts to achieve a greater balance, in terms of gender, across all of our sites.

"This is also part of our commitment to create a workforce that reflects the diversity of the customers that we serve, and to provide the flexibility that our people need to perform at their best," HSBC Head of Recruitment Pradeep Reddy said in a release here.

The bank began an internship programme this year focused solely on GSCs, which are located in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.

A total of 130 interns, including 89 women, took up positions in a range of different departments across the GSCs.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the bank''s partnership with Andhra University, which allows students to attend courses at the school of distance education at the university, while serving apprenticeships at GSC in Visakhapatnam.

Students who qualify from the course are offered Contact Centre roles in GSC Vizag.

HSBC in India offers a full range of banking and financial services through 42 branches and 140 ATMs across 21 cities.