India needs to have 3 to 4 banks of global standard in size: Niti VC Rajiv

India needs three-four large lenders which could figure among top 200 global-sized banks, Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Thursday.

Kumar made a strong case for giving banking sector more freedom to take risks and provide credit to industry especially the MSME sector.

"We need to have 3-4 banks of global standard in size," he said adding they ought to figure in top 200 global-sized banks.

While speaking at an event here, he regretted that India's banking sector is highly conservative and risk averse.

"Our banking sector is highly conservative. It's risk appetite is minimal and it's capacity of project assessment is not as much it should be. So, it takes recourse to safe banking," the Niti Aayog vice chairman said.

He further said that the RBI should refrain from over-regulation and encourage banks to take risks and increase exposure to the MSME sector.

The central bank should take steps to enhance the lending capacity of the banks, he said, adding that India's credit to GDP ratio is very low compared to many countries.

Observing that 86 per cent of the loans are given to the big companies, Kumar said there is an urgency to increase credit MSME sector, start-up and entrepreneurs.