Use of technology must to ease banking procedure: SBI chief

Deepak Kumar | The Dollar Business 

  Indian banking is undergoing through huge upheaval, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said, adding that there is a need to simplify banking procedure with the use of technology, especially when India is being looked as the world’ next big thing. Speaking at the ASSOCHAM Foundation Day in New Delhi on Tuesday, Bhattacharya said, “Banking has got completely transformed in India in the last fifteen years, thanks to technology and increased adoption of new methodologies. During the last two-three years, use of technology has become integral to banking operations and technology is used for data analysis, understanding of credit needs of customers and customer interaction. Thus, banking and technology are now inseparable.” Underscoring the need to develop digital branches, a platform which allows a customer to do carry out banking-related operation digitally, the SBI chairman announced that it will roll out 100 digital branches across the country. “In addition, the company also plans to install screens on the walls at high-street shopping areas where one can take comprehensive information about loan types, the interest rate one needs to pay,” the chairman said. Referring to the Basel III norms, which aim to strengthen balance sheets of banks and improve the quantity of capital base, Bhattacharya said, “Her bank and several others in the public sector would divest non-core assets for meeting the funding requirement as per the Basel III norms. The banks have indentified certain non-core asset and some unlisted entities which would be used for raising such resources for measuring up to Basel III norms.” Expressing concern over the growing level of NPAs in the Indian banking system, ASSOCHAM President Sunil Kanoria said, “Gross NPAs of commercial banks stood at 5.1% in September 2015, while the restructured standard advances as a percentage of gross advances stood at 6.2% during the same period.  The figures are even higher for the public sector banks (PSBs) which account for roughly 70% Indian banks’ assets.”

January 12, 2015 | 5:49pm IST.