Indian banking transforming from class to mass banking

The transition from class banking to mass banking due to financial inclusion and increased customer focus is drastically changing the landscape of Indian banking.

“There is still lot of potential for retail banking expansion in India,” Lucknow-based Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD) director S K Chatterjee said addressing a seminar on Indian banking organised by the School of Management Sciences (SMS) here.

He noted retail assets currently accounted for 22 per cent of total banking assets and contribution of retail loans to GDP stood at 6 per cent in India vis-à-vis 15 per cent in China and 24 per cent in Thailand.

Global banking industry is facing stiff challenges. Nevertheless, the Indian economic environment marked by a slower GDP growth, depressed capital market conditions and high interest rate regime, the growth has been gradual but steady,” Union Bank of India general manager P K Bansal said.

“India has an expanding middle class of 250-300 million people. While 60 per cent of our population has access to banks, only 15 per cent of them have loan accounts and an overwhelming 70 per cent of farmers have no access to formal sources of credit, reflective of immense potential for the banking system,” Aryavart Gramin Bank chairman P K Pattanaik said.