Public credit registry to speed up digitisation: Vishwanathan

Reserve Bank deputy governor N S Vishwanathan today said the introduction of a public credit registry will further speed up digitisation that has already changed the way banking is done in the country.
Describing the importance of data in today's digital world, he said, "Control of data is going to give human beings the power of divinity" as the intersection of IT, bio- genetics, AI (artificial intelligence) and nanotechnology is revolutionising the world at a breakneck speed, and the mankind may not be able to apply the brakes on it.
"Digital brought a welcome change to the way of banking is done in our country. Digital banking has increased in recent times because of several policy changes and an enabling environment," he said, addressing the annual banking summit organised by industry body Ficci.

He said digitisation can help the country leapfrog over the developed countries and "we are in a sweet spot on digitisation."
"Digital services will facilitate business even further with the introduction of a public credit registry," he said, adding the relevance of 'brick and mortar' banking is diminishing. Branches are now being replaced with banking outlets as the point of customer services.
On the mushrooming of payments banks, which now act as banking channels of regular lenders, he said they can revolutionise banking services.
Already, many institutions have come together to provide financial services, reducing the need for intermediation, the RBI deputy governor said.

However, he cautioned that all these benefits also come with challenges and specifically mentioned cyber security as the main challenge and called up on banks to put in place strong IT systems to prevent frauds.