AGM of 74th Indian Banks' Association: Major Things To Know

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will make the keynote talk at the Indian Banks' Association's 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai. On the day of the AGM, Sitharaman, who is also the Minister of Corporate Affairs, will speak at the meeting.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will make the keynote talk at the Indian Banks' Association's 74th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance, and Corporate Affairs Minister, has stated that India requires four or five more banks similar to SBI. In view of the current realities in the economy and industry, she stated that we need to scale up banking to fulfil changing requirements.

"The way the economy is transitioning to a different plane, the way industry is adjusting, there are so many new difficulties that keep cropping up. We need bigger banks, not just more, to meet these challenges." During her keynote talk at the 74th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) in Mumbai today, the Union Minister shared her perspective with the banking community.

The Finance Minister urged the industry to envision how Indian banking could operate in the near and long term. "In the post-COVID context, India's banking shape will have to be quite distinctive to India, where digitization adoption has been incredibly effective. While banks in many countries were unable to communicate with their customers during the epidemic, Indian banks' high level of digitalization enabled us to move money to small, medium, and large account holders via DBT and digital mechanisms."

Strengthen UPI

UPI, according to the Finance Minister, needs to be enhanced. "In today's payment environment, India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has made a significant impact. A RuPay card, which was once considered less glamorous than a foreign card, is now recognised in so many countries throughout the world, symbolising India's forward-thinking digital payment plans." FinTech recognises that UPI is its backbone; you must give it flesh and blood, and you must strengthen UPI, according to the Minister's advice to bankers.

NARCL is not a bad bank

Smt. Sitharaman expressed gratitude to the IBA for collaborating in the formation of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. and the India Debt Resolution Company Ltd. "By collaborating, NARCL and IDRCL might restructure and sell the NPAs."

Private sector DFIs needed to finance development needs

Even in the private sector, the Minister emphasised the importance and necessity of Development Finance Institutions. "At the same time that the government is establishing a Development Finance Institution, we have established sufficient provisions for DFIs to emerge in the private sector."

MoS Bhagwat Karad commends banks for taking benefits of financial packages to people

According to the Minister, all banks must make exceptional efforts to adopt EASE 3.0 and 4.0 reforms and modernise their operations. He also emphasised the importance of JAM Trinity in delivering government benefits directly to the people through Direct Benefits Transfer.