India’s Chakrabarty demands technological improvement in banking services

Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty, a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday said India will need to improve its technological infrastructure for retail banking customers if the country is to reach sustainable growth.

"In order to make the dream of growth coupled with inclusion a reality, the Indian banking sector today needs to make a promise, a promise to the customer, especially the small and retail customer, and to the society at large, to make banking transactions faster, cheaper and easier in the next decade," Chakrabarty said.

Chakrabarty said, although India was able to weather the worst of the financial crisis, it still had a long way to go to achieve a sustainable, higher and inclusive growth. Chakrabarty said the benefit of technology had not percolated to common people due to lack of infrastructure, which had resulted in banking transactions not becoming cheaper, easier and faster.

"[F]or the Indian economy to achieve this goal, the banking sector would undoubtedly need to play an extremely critical role," Chakrabarty said. "For that to happen, banks need to optimally leverage technology to increase penetration, improve their productivity and efficiency, deliver cost-effective products and services, provide faster, efficient and convenient customer service, and, thereby, contribute to the overall growth and development of the country," he said.

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