Banks to play key role in making India developed nation: FM Sitharaman

She said that banks cannot have a digital system that gets hacked somewhere, compromising the entire system and the trust placed in it

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 on Thursday.

Speaking at an event to mark the 90th foundation day of Bank of Maharashtra in Pune, Sitharaman said the vision for Viksit 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 by your role, we are going to give greater momentum to achieving this dream,” the Finance Minister said.

Banks can contribute by giving strong momentum in infrastructure and ensuring availability of need-based funding to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

They can bring unbanked populations under the ambit of formal banking channel and provide insurance cover to all citizens. The institutions dedicated for insurance activity will do that- provide insurance cover which the government schemes, Atal pension yojana, jeevan jyoti suraksha bima yojana, give 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 digital banking experience to all the customers. Banks have a lot of work to do in this area. The digital tools, platforms and access through digital mode will have to be customer friendly. Above all, these will have to be robust and reliable and adequately firewalled, she said.

The minister added that banks cannot have a digital system which somewhere gets hacked, and the entire system and the trust which is laid on it gets compromised.