Foreign banks and new generation banks have set up emerging trends in Indian Banking. Indira Gandhi was instrumental in nationalising 14 banks on 19th July, 1969. In 1980 six more private banks were nationalised taking the number of nationalised banks to 20. After 47 years, bank branches have been set up in every nook and corner of the country and banking has touched new horizons during this period.
Indian banking continues to be at the forefront of technological innovation to provide simplicity and convenience in banking, in line with RBI guidelines and policies of the Government. This has helped the banks to build a robust pipeline of innovative products, services and consolidates its position as financial hub with an aim to reach out to the public in the best way possible. With cutting edge technology, wide distribution network and energetic workforce, banks continue to have high degree of competition.
The Indian banking sector is passing through a phase that is both challenging and exciting. Over the last four decades banks have substantially strengthened its retail and rural business, as evidenced both by its strong deposit franchise and funding profiles, and stable asset quality in the banking sector. The global economy experienced challenging conditions in fiscal 2016, with weak growth and divergent monetary policies in advances economies, slowdown in China and significant decline in commodity prices. In this period we witnessed healthy growth in banking industry. The Indian economy is poised to build on the progress made in the banking portfolio over a period of time and is well positioned to address the challenges in a most clinical way. The spadework has already been done and it is time to reap rich harvest with consistent approach.
The wholesale banking group will continue to focus on enhancing the quality of the portfolio and earnings by further developing banking expertise in promoting new products and technology to meet client requirements and leverage growth opportunities in the best way possible. In the SME segment in India, the Banking sector continued to leverage its presence to grow in a more granular manner and enabled a large number of entrepreneurs to participate in the emerging economic opportunities.
Smart phones are redefining every aspect of life today and banking is no exception. Mobile banking is the backbone of present banking operations. Over 40 per cent of savings account transactions are done through mobile and internet banking. Consumers are increasingly demanding more and more services on the move and banks continue to deploy cutting edge technology to deliver innovative banking solutions on mobile devices.
Leadership through technology is about continuous improvement and evolution and the new app makes it easy for customers to track and access all their loan related details by the click of a mouse. Money world is far and wide and present day banking is aimed at resident Indians enabling them to send money overseas. From opening bank accounts to transferring money anywhere in the world, banks play a pivotal role and empower customers to fulfill their banking needs without stepping out of their homes or offices.
Today’s banking experience is thrilling and we feel the confluence of personalised human connect and technology enabled services paves way for easy banking and deters customers visiting bank branches for getting their transactions done. Fully automated, state-of-the-art bank branches provides round the clock services and kiosks placed at prominent places offer a complete suite of banking services and many other innovations are redefining the customer experience in banks today.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
