We need 4-5 more banks like SBI to meet changing needs of economy: Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that India needs four or five more banks like State Bank of India (SBI) and added that there is a need to scale up banking to meet the changing requirements in light of shifting recent realities of economy and industry.

“The way in which the economy is shifting to a different plane altogether, the way in which industry is adapting, so many new challenges keep arising. To address these challenges, we need not just more, but bigger banks,” she said.

As per a press statement from the Finance Ministry, Sitharaman shared this point of view with the banking community, during her keynote address at the 74th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in Mumbai on Sunday.

The Finance Minister asked IBA to improve access to financial services pan India through scientific digitized mapping. She exhorted the industry to imagine how Indian banking has to be in the immediate and long-term future.

She underlined the importance of seamless digital systems in creating a sustainable future for Indian banking industry. “Long-term future of Indian banking is going to be largely driven by digitized processes.”