Central Bank of india organises conference onn consultative process designed to generate ideas and review performance of Banks

by Suman Gupta

The First stage of the bottom-up consultative process designed to generate ideas and review performance of Banks and their alignment with national priorities was conducted at the Regional Level on 18^th & 19^th August, 2019 by Central Bank of India for all the branches of jurisdiction of South Mumbai, Thane, Panaji and Mumbai Suburban Regions.  This was a first of its kind consultation, where the Branches were themselves asked to review their performance, deliberate on the issues before the Banking Sector and ideate on future strategy and the way forward.  The meet focussed on the ways and means to increase credit to various sectors of the economy, enhance use of technology to bring about innovation and enable big data analytics, and make banking more citizen centric as well as more responsive to the needs and aspirations of Senior Citizens, Farmers, Small Industrialists, Entrepreneurs, Youth, Students and Women.

The following nine thematic papers by domain experts on various challenges facing the Banking Sector were discussed during the Meet, with a view to suggest reforms in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and the future road map for them. 1) Increasing Digital Payments 2) Corporate Governance in PSBs 3) Credit for India’s MSMEs  4)  Use of Technology in PSBs   5) Retail Lending – A Great Opportunity 6) Agriculture Credit    7)  Export Credit in India  8) Need to Establish Financial Grid 9) Enabling Bank Credit towards   $5 Trillion Economy

The Meet also reviewed the performance of the branches, and its alignment with National priorities in areas such as,

Credit Support for Economic Growth ; Infrastructure/Industry ; Farm Sector and Blue Economy ; Jal Shakti; MSME sector and Mudra Loans ;Education Loans ;Export Credit ; Green Economy ; Swachh Branch; Financial Inclusions & Women Empowerment ; Direct Benefit Transfers ; Less Cash/Digital Economy ; EASE of living ;Alignment with local priorities

As a result of consultations, a number of implementable and innovative suggestions came up on how branches in general, and our Bank in particular, may improve their performance and what the road map for the future should be.  These suggestions were collected and have been sent to the zonal level for further discussions at the SLBC/State level, along with comparative performance assessment of the Branches under each Region.  After the SLBC level, final consultations will be held at the National level to compare both intra and inter-bank performances, and to finalise the suggestions regarding the way ahead for implementation across Public Sector Banks’.

Our country is incredibly young – about 50% of its population is below 25 years, and about 65% below 35 years of age. We expect to have 10 crore people entering the workforce over the next ten years. In short the country is young, ambitious and connected. The consultative process has resulted in a renewed sense of involvement and purpose down to the branch level and the Bank is geared towards implementing the roadmap for the future, further improve its performance.

The Government and the Reserve Bank of India have articulated a vision of a less cash society and guided its evolution. As a consequence, we are continuing to drive the growth of financial services. There has been a significant growth in the use of digital payments over the past 5 years in our Bank. The banking network is the spine for all financial services through the country. It will continue to serve as the way to transform the country into using digital transactions for the benefits of the people.

Central Bank Of India was founded on 21^st December, 1911 by Sir Sorabji Pochkhanwala as FIRST Swadeshi Bank in India with the theme “BANKING BY INDIANS, FOR INDIANS” became his driving obsession. He was first banker to be honoured with the knighthood of SIR by British Government.   On the occasion of 100 years of the Bank a commemorative stamp was also issued by Govt Of India.

Central Bank of India has the credit of pioneering many Firsts amongst the Indian Banks e.g. Home Safe Saving a/c, Locker Facility, First all Ladies Branch, Credit cards and many other services. We have very loyal and dedicated customers who are doing Banking with us from generations. We are proud to have the accounts of many present and past National Level Personalities.

With the pious spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, we have recently added a new chapter in the history of Central Bank of India SPIRIT OF UNITY AND SOLIDARITY by igniting a TORCH on the 138^th birth anniversary of the Founder on 9^th august 2019. Our Bank is committed to the wellbeing of masses and will continue to work for the fulfilment of needs of the people.

The Press Meet was addressed by Shri S.R. Khatik, Field General Manager of Central Bank of India.  Seen alongwith him in photograph are Shri V.V. Natarajan, Sr. Regional Manager, South Mumbai, Shri Satish Talreja, Regional Manager, Thane and Mrs. Kavita Thakur, Regional Manager, Mumbai Suburban.