Time has come for banks to support wealth and job creators, says PM Modi

While addressing bankers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it is time for banks to support wealth and job creators, and improve their as well as the country’s balance sheet.

With a strong capital base and declining non-performing assets, public sector banks have been strengthened to give a push to the economy’s growth and play an important role in making India aatmanirbhar.

“I am seeing this as a new starting point for banks. It is time for you to support wealth creators and job creators. There is a need for banks to improve the country’s balance sheet along with their own balance sheet,” Modi said at ‘Creating Synergies for Seamless Credit Flow and Economic Growth’.

Prime Minister Modi exhorted banks to fund corporates and startups. He said that the scale at which corporates and start-ups are coming forward today is unprecedented.

“In such a situation, what can be a better time to strengthen, fund, invest in India’s aspirations?”, he said. Banking sector will have to understand that this is the time to invest in ideas and time to support startups, he said.

“Whether public or private bank, the amount they invest in citizens will help in creating jobs,” he said.

Modi also said the government has addressed the issue of NPAs, recapitalized banks and strengthened them. “We brought reforms like IBC, reformed many laws and empowered debt recovery tribunal,” he said. Resolution and recovery is taking place, and the banks have managed to recover more than Rs 5 trillion from defaulters.

The new National Asset Reconstruction Company will also help banks in resolving bad loans of Rs 2 trillion, he added.

He nudged bankers to come up with customised products by analysing needs of customers. Banks need to adopt partnership models, and targets should be set at branch level to extend loans to ten youth of their area or ten micro, small and medium enterprises to increase their business.

Modi also said that by August 15, 2022, all bank branches should target to have at least 100 top clients who undertake all their transactions digitally.

In the two-day dialogue between government ministries, industry and bankers, it has been decided to create a web-based project funding tracker, Modi said. He added that his suggestion was to integrate this with the Gati Shakti portal.

Providing comfort to bankers, Modi said he will stand beside them if honest decisions taken with true intentions go wrong.

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