India Banking Research
VDBS for financial inclusion in India
It is well understood that India continues to have acute challenges around financial inclusion. Only 40 per cent of the adults in the country have formal bank accounts, despite the country having 150 domestic commercial banks and over 2,700 co-operative sector banks operating in the country.
Recently DCB Bank became the first bank in India to introduce Aadhar based authentication at its ATMs, starting with its branch in India’s commercial hub- Mumbai. Aadhar provides a 12 digit number to every Indian resident that serves as a proof of identity as well as proof of residence, with biometric scanners being used for authentication.
India taking banking NPAs head on
NPAs (non-performing assets) as a percentage of total banking credit in the Indian banking industry has increased to nearly 5% in 2015. This has essentially come from the public sector (state owned) banks (PSBs). 90% of the NPAs in the Indian banking industry are attributable to these banks.
Banks take center stage in India’s Union Budget
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2016-17 and while India’s high economic growth rate of 7.6% was a bright spot, banking related allocations grabbed the most attention.