A small difference

The government has said that banking services would be brought within the reach

The government has, on multiple occasions, said that banking services would be brought within the reach — read fingertips — of every Indian. While physical bank branches will bear the brunt of this onslaught of technology, it appears the government is more than prepared for such a situation. At an event organised by an industry body, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant declared physical banks in the country were “dead”, with India becoming “a land of a billion biometrics”. However, the press release sent out by the organisers later quoted Kant as saying that physical banking is “almost” dead.