New Delhi, Sept 17 (KNN) Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman exhorted banks to plan for the next 25 years, embracing digital, modern technologies to make India a developed nation by 2047.

While addressing the 75th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Banks’ Association in Mumbai on Friday, Sitharaman urged the banks to use technologies such as Web3 and AI for the detection of fraud and generating early warning signals. She also asked banks to strengthen customer services.

She observed that the next 25 years which the Prime Minister refers to as Amrit Kaal have taken off very well, with the auspicious beginning of India becoming the fifth largest economy of the world.

 “We have so much and more to do, the banking industry needs to serve the Amrit Kaal, we have to see how best we can lift ourselves to meet the aspirations of a growing India. It is the banking sector which has to make a big contribution towards this,” she said.

The finance minister further said that “Professionalise your decision-making boards, there is no way banks can any longer run with a crony background, our 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. We are conscious of the need to let the banks be, and let them run by professionals, with a purely banking perspective in mind.”

“You need to have strategies to meet the aspirations of the youth of India in the next 25 years. You need to make your portfolios so that they are attractive to the young as well and make yourselves accessible to them,” she added.  (KNN Bureau)