She also observed that the next 25 years which have been referred to as Amrit Kaal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have taken off very well, with India becoming the fifth largest economy in the world.
"The banking sector in India needs to serve the Amrit Kaal. We need to see how best we can lift ourselves to meet the aspirations of a growing India. PM Modi has said that we need to be a developed country by 2047. This can be achieved through the contribution of the banking sector," Sitharaman said as quoted by news agency ANI.
The finance minister further called banks the 'biggest catalysts to growth' and suggested the banking sector professionalize its decision-making boards as there is no way for it to run with a crony background.
"The government has ensured that there are no instructions given or interference made in the functioning of the banks. We need to take professionalism at a faster pace. Banks should be run with purely banking perspective in mind," she added.
She also exhorted the banks to plan for the next 25 years, and prepare the strategies to meet the aspirations of the youth in India. "You need to make portfolios so attractive that it can become accessible to young people. Are you communicating to the youth, to women, are you offering products to them?" the minister said.
"Are you comfortable in being a digital institution? How much training goes into this? Do your systems talk to each other? It will be a big missed opportunity if these bridges between banks are not built. IBA should plan to make sure that all systems in all banks, whether private or public, should be talking to each other for the purpose of the customer," she asked the banking sector.
The Minister said that such technologies also bring in benefits such as detecting fraud, tracking wrong money, and detecting unusual transactions.
(With ANI inputs)
