Banking sector must continue to innovate, lead amid changing global landscape: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the banking sector must continue to innovate and lead amid changing global landscape, and exuded confidence that the country's largest bank SBI will embrace technology, sustainability and inclusivity as its guiding principles.

Speaking at the launch of Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Foundation Day of State Bank of India (SBI), the minister also said SBI has continuously evolved to meet the changing landscape and retained its position as a market leader despite regulatory tightening.

"The world is changing rapidly, and the banking sector must continue to innovate and also to lead. I am confident that SBI will rise to the occasion embracing technology, sustainability and inclusivity as its guiding principles," Sitharaman said.

She said SBI is reinventing its personal distribution channels to align with evolving customer expectations.

"As the largest commercial bank in the world's most populous nation, catering approximately to about 5.6 per cent of the global population, SBI has become more agile and competitive than ever before," she added.

Sitharaman said SBI, the largest bank in the Indian subcontinent, is now ideally positioned to deliver superior value creation through sustainable growth.

SBI aims to achieve this by enhancing its operational excellence across lending performance, asset quality, profitability and capital generation, thereby driving wealth creation, she said.

"To power these efforts, SBI has bolstered its infrastructure, established a robust monitoring and control framework, and built a talent pool of committed professionals. Additionally, the bank has re-engineered its internal processes to improve risk management and accelerate growth velocity," the minister added.

SBI was constituted by an Act of Parliament on July 1, 1955. Over the last 70 years, the bank's customer base rose to more than 51 crore. Its total business grew to Rs 87 lakh crore, with over 2.37 lakh staffs.