Banks need to design products specially to deeply involve those that are new to the banking system especially the poor, women and differently abled to own financial assets and gain greater financial acumen, president Ramnath Kovind said.
"Through financial inclusion, we have taken rapid strides in covering the unbanked sectors of our population. The challenge before us is now to deeply involve those included. I would urge all of you to think of financial products which meet the needs of those at the bottom of the ladder," Kovind said while delivering the key note speech at the golden jubilee celebration of the Pune based National Institute of Bank Managenent (NIBM).
Kovind was addressing senior bankers, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, government officials and students at NIBM here.
"As India aims to become a 5-trillion-dollar economy, the banking sector has to start preparing for the next big leap. This mainly involves “banking with the unbanked” and “securing the unsecured”," the president said.
He noted that the pradhan mantri jan dhan yojana has opened 35 crore new bank accounts bringing many under the formal saving channel.
"Millions of lives have been touched through direct transfer of funds under various welfare schemes to bank account of poor and needy. I have learnt that these funds amount to almost 9.2 lakh crore rupees. This is indeed very reassuring and we can raise our bar of expectations," Kovind said.
He urged NIBM to design financial products for the poorer sections of the population. Banks can also design products for women to ensure greater gender parity in the owneship of financial assets.
"I request banks to take proactive measures to bring greater gender parity in ownership of financial assets. As part of social responsibility, banks can adopt certain geographical areas for increasing financial awareness among women," he said.
He also urged RBI to proactively take measures to improve access of financial services to the differently enabled or divyang which constitue more than 2% of India's population.
"India’s future journey will be greatly helped if banks exhibit deeper reach and become more efficient. Given the growing size of our economy, we should aim to have more than just one name in the world’s top 100 banks," he said.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com