The Indian banking sector has its roots in the 18th century, and has evolved in a variety of ways since then
Post-Independence, The Reserve Bank of India, India’s central banking authority, was established in April 1935, but was nationalised on 1 January 1949 under the terms of the Reserve Bank of India (Transfer to Public Ownership) Act, 1948 (RBI, 2005b).]In 1949, the Banking Regulation Act was enacted, which empowered the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to regulate, control, and inspect the banks in India.The Banking Regulation Act also provided that no new bank or branch of an existing bank could be opened without a license from the RBI, and no two banks could have common directors.
During the Nationalisation in 1960’s, Inspite of the offerings, authorities and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India, banks in India except the State Bank of India (SBI), remained owned and operated by private persons.
By the 1960s, the Indian banking industry had become an important tool to facilitate the development of the Indian economy.
Second Round of nationalisation of six more commercial banks ensued in 1980. This gave more control to the Indian Government, and it regulated 91% of the banking business in India.
In the year 1993, Government merged New Bank of India and Punjab National Bank rendering reduction in nationalized banks from twenty to nineteen.
Liberaisation in the early 1990’s lead to licensing few private banks. These financial instruments came to be known as New Generation tech-savvy banks that included ICICI Bank, HDFC bank, Oriental bank of commerce, Axis bank etc.
This led to a surge in the growth of economical conditions of India, fuelled by government, private and foreign banks.
The next stage for the Indian banking has been set up, with proposed relaxation of norms for foreign direct investment.
The new policy shook the Banking sector in India completely and led to a retail boom. Also with the advent of Information technology in this era, online banking and ATM’s became popular and grew substantially in the coming years
Currently,
The Indian banking sector is broadly classified into scheduled banks and non-scheduled banks. All banks included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 are Scheduled Banks. These banks comprise Scheduled Commercial Banks and Scheduled Co-operative Banks. Scheduled Co-operative Banks consist of Scheduled State Co-operative Banks and Scheduled Urban Cooperative Banks.Scheduled Commercial Banks in India are categorised into five different groups according to their ownership and/or nature of operation:
• State Bank of India and its Associates
• Nationalised Banks
• Private Sector Banks
• Foreign Banks
• Regional Rural Banks.
In the bank group-wise classification, IDBI Bank Ltd. is included in Nationalised Banks.
In 2010, Banking sector had seasoned well in terms of product development,supply and reach. Reach to remotely rural areas still pose challenges to the government
In terms of quality of assets and capital adequacy, Indian banks are considered to have clean, strong and transparent balance sheets relative to other banks in comparable economies in its region.
By 2013 the Indian Banking Industry employed 1,175,149 employees and had a total of 109,811 branches in India and 171 branches abroad and manages an aggregate deposit of₹67,504.54 and bank credit of ₹52,604.59. The net profit of the banks operating in India was ₹1,027.51 against a turnover of ₹9,148.59 for the financial year 2012-13
15 July 2015, 16.92 crore accounts were opened, with around ₹20,288.37 crore were deposited under the scheme which also has an option for opening new bank accounts with zero balance
Size of the Market: Currently the banking ecosystem in India consists of 26 public sector banks, 25 private sector banks, 43 foreign banks, 56 regional rural banks, 1,589 urban cooperative banks and 93,550 rural cooperative banks.
Public Sector banks occupy 80 percent of the market, thereby showing dominance over the private lending banks.
The mobile banking transactions in December 2015 incremented four times annually.
According to RBI(Reserve Bank of india), the banking sector is well capitalised and administered. The financial and economic conditions are balanced. Credit, Market and liquidity risk suggest that Indian banks are generally resilient and have stood strong against global plunge well.
Let’s highlight some key developments in the banking sector
• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), an investment management company, has bought a large stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd from Japan-based Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
• India’s first small finance bank called the Capital Small Finance Bank has started its operations by launching 10 branch offices in Punjab, and aims to increase the number of branches to 29 in the current FY 2016-17.
• FreeCharge, the wallet company owned by online retailer Snapdeal, has partnered with Yes Bank and MasterCard to launch FreeCharge Go, a virtual card that allows users to pay for goods and services at online shops and offline retailers.
• Exim Bank of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote exports in the state.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted in-principle licences to 10 applicants to open small finance banks, which will help expanding access to financial services in rural and semi-urban areas.
• IDFC Bank has become the latest new bank to start operations with 23 branches, including 15 branches in rural areas of Madhya Pradesh.
• The RBI has given in-principle approval to 11 applicants to establish payment banks. These banks can accept deposits and remittances, but are not allowed to extend any loans.
• The RBI has allowed third-party white label automated teller machines (ATM) to accept international cards, including international prepaid cards, and said white label ATMs can now tie up with any commercial bank for cash supply.
• The RBI has allowed Indian alternative investment funds (AIFs), to invest abroad, in order to increase the investment opportunities for these funds.
• RBL Bank informed that it would be the anchor investor in Trifecta Capital’s Venture Debt Fund, the first alternative investment fund (AIF) in India with a commitment of Rs 50 crore (US$ 7.34 million). This move provides RBL Bank the opportunity to support the emerging venture debt market in India.
• Bandhan Financial Services raised Rs 1,600 crore (US$ 234.8 million) from two international institutional investors to help convert its microfinance business into a full service bank. Bandhan, one of the two entities to get a banking licence along with IDFC, launched its banking operations in August 2015.
Government Initiatives
The government and the regulator have undertaken several measures to strengthen the Indian banking sector.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines for priority sector lending certificates (PSLCs), according to which banks can issue four different kinds of PSLCs—those for the shortfall in agriculture lending, lending to small and marginal farmers, lending to micro enterprises and for overall lending targets – to meet their priority sector lending targets.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed additional reserves to be part of tier-1 or core capital of banks, such as revaluation reserves linked to property holdings, foreign currency translation reserves and deferred tax assets, which is expected to shore up the capital of state-run banks and privately owned banks by up to Rs 35,000 crore (US$ 5.14 billion) and Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 734 million) respectively.
• Scheduled commercial banks can grant non-fund based facilities including partial credit enhancement (PEC), to those customers, who do not avail any fund based facility from any bank in India.
• Ministry of Finance has planned to inject Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 734 million) in eight public sector banks in order to boost their capital,
• To reduce the burden of loan repayment on farmers, a provision of Rs 15,000 crore (US$ 2.2 billion) has been made in the Union Budget 2016-17 towards interest subvention.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), 217 million accounts! have been opened and 174.6 million RuPay debit cards have been issued. These new accounts have mustered deposits worth almost Rs 37,000crore (US$ 5.53 billion).
• The Government of India is looking to set up a special fund, as a part of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), to deal with stressed assets of banks. The special fund will potentially take over assets which are viable but don’t have additional fresh equity from promoters coming in to complete the project.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to soon come out with guidelines, such as common risk-based know-your-customer (KYC) norms, to reinforce protection for consumers, especially since a large number of Indians have now been financially included post the government’s massive drive to open a bank account for each household.
• To provide relief to the state electricity distribution companies, Government of India has proposed to their lenders that 75 per cent of their loans be converted to state government bonds in two phases by March 2017. This will help several banks, especially public sector banks, to offload credit to state electricity distribution companies from their loan book, thereby improving their asset quality.
• Government of India aims to extend insurance, pension and credit facilities to those excluded from these benefits under the PradhanMantri Jan DhanYojana (PMJDY).
• To facilitate an easy access to finance by Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs), the Government/RBI has launched Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme to provide guarantee cover for collateral free credit facilities extended to MSEs upto Rs 1 Crore (US$ 0.15 million). Moreover, Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Ltd. was also established to refinance all Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs), which are in the business of lending to micro / small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and services activities upto Rs 10 lakh (US$ 0.015 million).
Future prospects:- The financial segment is undergoing several changes with many initiatives coming in. Country’s economic growth is likely to boom with positive business collaborations, consumer satisfaction and a balanced inflation.
