"Investments in technology critical for existence of banks in future"- Zarin Daruwala

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Pune, January

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24

, 2018: How successful India's banks will be in future will depend largely on how efficiently they use technology to address customer aspirations, Ms. Zarin Daruwala, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank in India said on Wednesday. The bank customerof tomorrow is going to be extremely tech-savvy and banks will have to invest heavily in technology to be able to meet the needs of this customer offering him services 'on the go' she said.

Daruwala was speaking on Banking: "Present & Future" at a lecture organised by Pune International Centre (PIC) in association with Symbiosis International University.  Dr. S B Mujumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis International University, Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Vice President of PIC, Dr. Rajani Gupte, Vice-Chancellor, Symbiosis International University, Dr. Vidya Yeravdekar, Director of Symbiosis Group of Educational Institutions, and Mr. Prashant Girbane, Honorary Director, PIC were present on the dais during this occasion. 

“Banking sector in India is passing through challenging times as the issue of non-performing assets (NPAs) has become serious and needs to be addressed on a priority,” said Daruwala. She further expressed the hope that the insolvency legislation and creation of bad loans settlement mechanisms such as the National Company Law Tribunal will help banks to recover their overdue loans sooner and help improve the recovery rate across the banking sector. She also welcomed steps such as recapitalisation of public sector banks that will improve the banks' capacity to absorb losses due to settlements and lend afresh. 

Daruwala stated technology can also help banks in improving their lending function. "The problem of huge NPAs was in part caused by the lackof timely warning signs available to the banks and that is where technology can play a huge role”, said Daruwala. “Not only can the moderntechnology help in making the early lending decision but can also help in the ongoing credit monitoring. This will reduce significantly the risk of a loan going bad," exclaimed Daruwala.

She added that public sector banks like State Bank of India have made massive investments in technology and have been nimble in responding to the changes. Daruwala further said non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), who have the flexibility to build technology platform from the scratch, have emerged as a strong challenge to banks in retail segment and banks will have to match the reach, agility and flexibility of NBFCs to keep their lead in the retail lending space, she added.