Page 5 - Banking Finance October 2023

BANK UPDATE

Banking

News

India can do 100 billion newspaper while keeping many poten- we're more interested in, is deepening
tial bidders in the dark. relationships with existing franchises,
UPI transactions a month:
"This is a code of conduct to enable and sweating the assets, which we al-
NPCI wider participation in loan sale deals ready have," SBI managing director
India has the potential to do 100 bil- and bring more transparency. Also, due (retail business and operations) Alok
lion Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to changes in the market dynamics, the Kumar Choudhary said.
transactions a month, a top official document mentions all the information So, he said, "Somebody is building an
from the National Payments Corpora- about a loan that banks must provide," asset, we already have an asset and
tion of India said. said an industry person. we're trying to sweat it out. So, our
This would be a 10-time growth over strategies will have to be different,
the 10 billion transactions achieved by SBI to open 300 branches because somebody who is already 216
the 2016-launched platform in August. across country this year years old, with all systems, gover-
nance, etc will have different priorities
Dilip Asbe, Chief Executive Officer and State Bank of India plans to open 300
Managing Director of NPCI, said there branches to increase its physical pres- than somebody who is new to the in-
dustry and trying to make greater foot-
are 350 million UPI users at present ence across the country this year. Cur-
and pegged the growth opportunity in rently, there are 22,405 branches holds".
merchants and users at 3 times more. across the country and 235 foreign
"...if you take the combined effect, we branches and offices. With the addition, Jan Dhan A/Cs reaching 50
have a 10x opportunity from where we the total domestic network will be crore a key milestone
stand," Asbe said at the Global Fintech close to 23,000.
The number of Jan Dhan accounts
Fest.
"We are looking at expanding digitally. reaching the 50-crore mark is a signifi-
And even when it comes to physical, cant milestone, said Prime Minister
Banks won't auction we tend to add about 300 odd branches Narendra Modi, and lauded the fact
stressed loans covertly in the current year, depending upon the more than half of these accounts be-

Under a new framework that high- potential where the branches are re- long to women.
street banks agreed recently, lenders quired," SBI chairman Dinesh Khara "This is a significant milestone. It is
will have to ensure that the decision said in a recent interaction with ana- heartening to see that more than half
to auction loans is notified to all key lysts.
of these accounts belong to our 'Nari
players in the market. He also said the bank is not only look- Shakti. With 67% of accounts opened
This will end the practice of pushing ing at the branches and digitals, but in rural and semi-urban areas, we are
through a sale by putting out the auc- also business correspondents. also ensuring that the benefits of finan-
tion advertisement in an innocuous "So, with this kind of footprint, what cial inclusion reach every corner of our

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