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C
O N T E N T S
EDITORIAL
Down
but not out
The poor offtake of retail loans has pulled down
credit growth
Red
alert
After a sharp reduction in the last three years,
NPAs are creeping back into banks’ balance sheets
A
vote for the future
A distinguished Jury picks State Bank of India Chairman
O P Bhatt as the Business Standard Banker of the year
Making
the elephant dance
Interview with SBI Chairman O P Bhatt on his efforts
at re-energising the bank
Dial
‘R’ for restraint
Cases of coercion and violence are forcing banks
to soften their approach towards debt recovery
Overcoming
obstacles
RBI has softened its stand on co-operative banks,
but the guidelines are still strict
Database
All the data you wanted on banks
Banking
Annual (HOME)
Banking
Annual 2006
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Annual 2005
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'We
need a detailed roadmap for 2009'
Seven
top bankers (in the picture on your left) met at the Business Standard
round-table to discuss the topic “2009: Are banks in India
ready for it?” The round-table was organised on November 23
in Mumbai and was moderated by Shyamal Majumdar Excerpts:
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MODERATOR:
The contours of the Indian banking landscape are expected
to change dramatically after April 1, 2009. The general feeling
is foreign banks will be given more freedom. The underlying
idea is that it will lead to some efficiency gains in the
Indian banking system which will have a rub-off effect on
India’s economy. Let’s hear the bankers’ views
on this.
NEERAJ
SWAROOP:
The Indian banking industry is in good shape compared with
the situation 10 years back in terms of technology, NPAs and
the ability to launch a wide range of products to meet the
growing needs of the economy.
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(Back,
from left) Standard Chartered India CEO Neeraj Swaroop, Bank
of Baroda CMD A K Khandelwal, and HDFC Bank MD & CEO Aditya
Puri. (Front, from left) UCO Bank CMD S K Goel, HSBC Country
Head Naina Lal Kidwai, Canara Bank CMD M B N Rao and IDBI
CMD Yogesh Agarwal at the Business Standard Round Table
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But
the challenges are huge as the penetration continues to be low and
the economy is growing at a rapid pace. The public sector banks
will face challenges going ahead in two areas. One is in the area
of capital – to be able to meet the growing needs. And, two
which is perhaps even more important, is the ability to build talent.
M
B N RAO:
I would like to see 2009 in a very different way. We can’t
presume that everything will be equal and things would be like in
the nineties or 2000. The scenario may change completely. It is
likely that many banks from India would go outside and acquire banks
abroad. The second aspect is banking may not be in the form what
it is today. I understand mobile companies have formed a consortium
and may pose challenge in remittances or movement of money business.
So I think the players may change and the complexion may change.
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ADITYA
PURI:
There seems to be a presumption that the Indian financial
market is not open to foreigners. If you look at facts, we
are probably more open than 90 per cent of the countries.
A lot of us who wanted to go to the US or to Singapore can
tell you that it takes an inordinately long time to get a
licence.
Even
if you get it, you get a limited licence. You can’t get
a corporate finance licence; you can’t get a brokerage
licence. So the Indian market is not as constrained as it
is made out to be. But I tend to agree with Neeraj that there
is still a lot that we need to do in terms of reforming the
market, reforming the participants and having an even playing
field within the sector.
NAINA
LAL KIDWAI:
I do believe that our public sector banks, with great people
at the helm, are fighting with their hands behind their back.
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NAINA
LAL KIDWAI
Country Head, HSBC
I would like to see between now and 2009 a clear vision statement
from the govt on what it wants |
How
do you compete in a market for human resources where salary increases
in what we call the banking & financial services sector have
been 17 to 20 per cent? The other is technology. While a lot has
been done, we need to ask whether a large number of banks have really
got the technology platform to enable them to shore up scale and
compete effectively.
Next
page
Business
Standard •
December 2007
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