After a difficult period immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic began, India’s banks are now moving forward in renewed health. 

Mergers and acquisitions, and rising revenue from digital payments, are boosting the size of State Bank of India’s main competitors.

India’s mobile payments market is forecast to grow 41% annually and be worth more than $2bn by 2024, fuelling a surge in fintech start-ups gaining unicorn status.

As they come through the pandemic, India’s large public sector banks are completing mergers with smaller banks, while both public and private sector banks are expanding their digital offerings.

India’s banks have continued to evolve during the Covid-19 crisis, leading to hopes of a quick bounceback. 

As India grapples with a brutal second wave of Covid-19, its economy is holding up. 

One of the Indian central bank’s priorities should be to ensure private and public banks operate on a level playing field.

The latest data on India’s banking sector challenges the view that loans to disadvantaged sections of society are more risky.

An open banking-type initiative could drive wider access to financial services across the country.

The government’s plan to address crippling rates of non-performing loans in the sector follows a raft of reforms over past half decade.