Financial Services Secretary, Sanjay Malhotra addresses Bankers

With an aim to brainstorm with top-leadership of public sector banks and unlock next-generation reforms while continuing with the EASE journey, Manthan 2022 was held in New Delhi on Friday. The last such exercise was held in 2019. The first PSB Manthan took place in 2014. Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Malhotra addressed the bankers and exuded confidence that public sector banks will continue to strive and perform better on all metrics including profitability. Malhotra urged banks to further strengthen themselves and raise capital from markets. He further suggested that PSBs should explore more collaboration amongst themselves and that the larger banks should share their best practices with smaller lenders and guide them in areas where they need more expertise. Malhotra also suggested that banks should explore strategies for long term profitability and more customer centric approach. Accordingly six groups were formed to look and suggest measures for key focus areas including Customer service, Digitization, HR incentives, Governance and Collaboration Earlier, Indian Banks' Association chairman Atul Kumar Goel welcomed the participants and expressed sincere hope that this Manthan is going to bring about a turnaround in the industry. IBA chief executive Sunil Mehta also expressed hope that this initiative will help to share best practices while looking at innovative solutions.