The banking sector has emerged as biggest job generator in the first quarter of the current fiscal with the segment increasing headcount by more than 16,000, a survey by the industry body Assocham has found.

The sector topped the chart with the highest number of job announcements at 16,200 during first quarter of 2009-10, it said in the survey on 'Headcount Expansion Activities'.

In the total job announcements during the study period, the sector's share stood at 42 per cent, the survey said.

The country's largest lender, State Bank of India, has emerged as the highest job generator, announcing 13,000 jobs "for its process of recruiting officers, marketing and recovery (Rural), and technical officers (farm sector)", followed by Dhanalakshmi Bank, which announced recruiting 1,300 employees, Andhra Bank (900) and Yes Bank (1,000).

The IT/ITeS sector was the second-highest employment generator, creating 12,200 jobs during the period, the survey said.

"Global demand for tech-services is propelling Banking and IT/ITeS to emerge as the top employer, carving out a share of nearly 74 per cent in total hiring plans during first quarter of financial year 2009-10," Assocham said.

The other major sectors which contributed in total headcount announcements during Q1 FY'10 were, diversified (2,000 employees), pharmaceuticals (1,300), steel (600), aviation (500) and consumer durables (200).