India has an export target of 2 trillion dollar by 2030: FM

Mumbai: Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Saithraman on Sunday said India has an export target of two trillion dollar by 2030 and said the banks will have to play a pivotal part in achieving the same. Speaking at the 74th Annual General Meeting of the Indian Banking Association in Mumbai yesterday, 

Ms Sitharaman said, India aims to achieve a target export of two triilion dollar by 2030 of which one trillion dollar is merchandise export and one trillion dollar is services export. She added that the target cannot be achieved unless banks are going to be nimble with sound understanding of various businesses and sectors.

Emphasizing on the need of adopting new technology in banking, the Finance Minister said long term future of Indian banking is going to be largely driven by digitized processes. She said post covid there has been extremely successful adoption of digitization. Ms Sitharaman emphasized the importance of rationalized approach and optimal utilization of digital technologies to improve access of banking in every district. 

She said almost two third of 7.5 lakh panchayats have optical fiber connection, IBA should consider this and conduct exercise to decide where they should have a physical presence and where customers can be served even without physical presence. She said, UPI is the flesh and blood of Financial technology and there is a need to strengthen it. She said Indian UPI has made a very big impression in the world where Indian Rupay in now accepted in so many countries which is a symbolic of India’s futuristic digital payment intentions.

While elaborating on the point of strengthening the banking network as the key of development, Ms Sitharaman said the way in which the economy is shifting to a different plane altogether and the way industry is adapting, many new challenges are risen, India needs more bigger banks like SBI to scale up banking to meet changing requirements in light of shifting recent realities of economy and industry. She said, India needs to have 4-5 banks like SBI. 

The Minister also emphasized the need of developing Corporate Communications of the



bank to keep people about their activities. She said Bank’s Corporate Communication team should be able to tell customers about various portfolios and offerings and they have to lot more imaginative and creative.

Speaking specially about the deposits and lending scenario in the Eastern Region of the Country, the Finance Minister said, there is more than adequate Current and Savings Account in that region but there are no takers for credit and asked the banks to address the issue and see how they can lend in those regions in states like Bihar.

Talking about commercial banks and their core role, Sitaraman said government will come out with Developmental Financial Institution (DFI)which will provide huge amount of funds for government big projects. DFI is to be at private sector also which will funding large, eventually money should be available with competitive pricing.

Ms. Sitharaman praised IBA for the coming together of eight banks to form the Account Aggregator Framework. She said, this will give tailor-made portfolios for people to choose from and people will be encouraged to voluntarily to share their data. She said this will also improve credit outreach going forward. The Finance Minister said, if Account Aggregator Framework is put to use well, the more specialized credit outreach would be needed. She informed that the Govt along with RBI has taken initiatives with protocols and frameworks helping banks attain more through the digital systems which are being employed in the industry.

Minister of State for Finance Dr. Bhagwat Karad who also attended the function, stressed on the need of bank playing an important role in taking various govt schemes to the public. 

He said various packages announced by the central govt like Atma Nirbhar Bharat in the wake of covid pandemic should be taken to the public. He said there is a need to take forward social security schemes which will help in financial inclusion. He also emphasized on modernisation of banks and said all banks should make special efforts to implement Ease 3.0 and 4.0 Reforms to modernize banks.