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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File Photo: PTI)
The banking sector in India will have to play a crucial role in driving the agenda for making India a developed country by 2047, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said today.
Speaking at an event to mark the 90th foundation day of Bank of Maharashtra in Pune, Sitharaman said the vision for Vikasit Bharat has key pillars: economic growth, social progress, environmental sustainability, and good governance.
“Banks will have to play a crucial role in driving the agenda set by the Prime Minister, and through your role, we are going to give greater momentum to achieving this dream.”
They can contribute by providing strong momentum in infrastructure development and ensuring need-based funding availability to MSMEs. They can bring unbanked populations under the ambit of the formal banking channel and provide insurance cover to all citizens.
The institutions dedicated to insurance activities will handle that, but government schemes like Atal Pension Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana also provide insurance to the poorest of the poor. 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 have a lot of work to do in this area. The digital tools, platforms, and access through digital modes will have to be customer-friendly. Above all, these will have to be robust, reliable, and adequately firewalled, the finance minister said.
She added that banks cannot have a digital system that gets hacked somewhere, compromising the entire system and the trust placed in it.
First Published: Sep 19 2024 | 7:53 PM IST
