The Indian government is looking to break the cycle of poverty in the country's rural and urban areas by ensuring every household has a bank account. Rekha Gupta Menon reports on how banks are working to bring the Indian unbanked into the formal banking network.
Critics have long argued that the obstacles preventing further growth in the Indian banking sector – particularly among its state-owned institutions – can be eliminated by a couple of deft policy changes. The question is, will the country's new government bring about the financial sector reforms that are so badly needed?
Two new players have been admitted into the Indian banking sector in 2014, but declining profitability among the country's existing lenders in the past 12 months does not appear to be inspiring much confidence in the industry. The Banker talks to chief executives at both established and new institutions, and discusses past performance and future plans.
Emerging market currencies benefited handsomely from the US central bank’s huge quantitative easing programme. With that now being unwound and with China slowing, emerging currencies are now in retreat. Those from economies with weak fundamentals are especially vulnerable.
India may be one of the most populous countries on earth, but a small proportion of its population has access to a bank branch. As the case for financial inclusion grows, lenders are clamouring to take advantage of what has been described as 'the largest banking opportunity in the world'.
India's banks remained relatively profitable in 2012, and the outlook for this year is equally positive thanks to a government initiative that is helping lenders to tap the country's large unbanked population. The Banker talks to the senior executives of 10 of India's biggest banks to discuss the industry's past successes and future developments.
With a significant unbanked population and the world's second largest number of mobile connections, India is a prime market for mobile banking. But, unlike other mobile banking markets, it is adopting a bank-led rather than telecommunications-led approach, with the largest institutions already rolling out services and the country's regulator keen to use it as a tool to improve financial inclusion.
While The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking published every July gives an insightful and unique snapshot of the state of the global banking market, our ranking of those banks featuring just below the ranking gives an excellent indication of the way in which the market is heading, and which countries and regions are on the rise.
The evolution of the Indian banking sector has been slow and steady thus far, but with 60% of its population still unbanked and $1000bn of investment planned for the development of its infrastructure, India's needs are fast outstripping the sector's capabilities. Deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India Anand Sinha is confident that the country's banks can rise to this challenge, but there are areas that he believes they must improve on first.
Little is understood of India's banking sector outside of the vast country. The Banker talks to the chairmen and CEOs of 15 of India’s leading banks about their strategies, prospects and the huge opportunities presented by the country's large unbanked population.
A Surendran, a general manager and head of international banking with Federal Bank of India, tells The Banker about the bank's innovative payments strategy designed to improve access to banking channels and boost the provision of electronic transactions.
As regulators the world over attempt to come up with rules to prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis, the Reserve Bank of India has adhered to five basic principles of financial regulation that all central banks would do well to follow.