Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the public-sector banks would need around Rs 1 lakh crore capital over the next five-10 years.
In his address after releasing the book — Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) @ 75 — the minister said the government intended to capitalise the banks so they could meet especially Basel norms.
By March-end, the government will infuse Rs 15,000 crore as new capital.
"We will find all the way to mobilise this money," he said. The minister also urged the banks to look to consolidation. "China got three banks among the top-20 banks in the world, but India doesn't even have one.
"We need one to compete globally, and for that we need a bank with strong capital," said the minister.
He added that, despite growing at nine per cent in terms of banking network expansion, the country was still underbanked.
In 2011, the banks in India, collectively, had opened 6,489 branches. (on an average 18-19 branches a day), and during the current year banks are planning to open 6,000-7,000 branches.
At present, all these Banks have 70,000-plus branches, said the minister.
"Despite all the efforts, one half of India doesn't have bank accounts" said the minister.
The minister said the country need all sort of Banks, co-operatives, with local flavours, with regional domination, with national foot print and Banks of World Size, he said.
On the Banking system, he said, "the system is strong, healthy and robust . Small ailments will not affect our robust economy. Government attached lots of great importance to Banks".
During the financial crisis, in US around 1000 branches were collapsed, but not even one Bank in India collapsed thanks to the system, regulation and regulator.
