Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File photo: PTI)
India’s banking sector will have to play a crucial role in realising the agenda of making India a developed country by 2047, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
Speaking at the 90th foundation day celebrations of Bank of Maharashtra in Pune, Sitharaman said the vision for Vikasit Bharat has the following pillars: economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability and good governance.
“Banks will have a crucial role to play in driving the agenda set out by the Prime Minister. With your role, we can give greater impetus to achieving this dream.”
They can contribute by providing strong momentum in infrastructure development and ensuring need-based financing availability to SMEs. They can bring unbanked populations under the reach of the formal banking channel and provide insurance coverage to all citizens.
The institutions engaged in insurance business will handle that, but government schemes like Atal Pension Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana also provide insurance to the poorest. Public sector banks will have to play a bigger role in providing insurance cover to the poor, the finance minister added.
What is changing the Indian banking landscape is technology. It provides a secure and easy-to-navigate digital banking experience to all customers. Banks still have a lot of work to do in this area. The digital tools, platforms and access through digital modes need to be customer-friendly. Above all, they need to be robust, reliable and adequately secured, the finance minister said.
She added that banks should not have a digital system that gets hacked somewhere, putting the entire system and trust in it at risk.
First publication: Sep 19, 2024 | 7:53 PM IST