Dr. Achyuta Samanta commencing the inaugural session said that the banks play a vital role in today’s economy. From creating wealth to distributing it to the various sectors of the country, the banks ensure the growth of our economy. Highlighted the changes that have taken place in the Indian banking sector, he said that there was a time when the customers visited the banks to fulfill their needs but now the time has come when the banks themselves visit the customers.

Dr. Rabi Narayan Senapati spoke about the need of Indian banks to cater to the vast rural populace. Things like starting mobile banking facilities in rural India and providing micro financing options would help rural people in coming out of the clutches of local money lenders. Shri Senapati cited example of the successful model that has been adopted by Grameen Bank of Bangaladesh in this regard.

Prof. Ashok Sar introduced the topic of the seminar stressing upon the key success factors and the various competitive forces which banking sector is facing in today’s scenario. Prof. Ashok Kolaskar addressed the audience citing examples of the transformations which have taken place in the banking sector in the past twenty years and also mentioned the customers’ expectations and the perspectives in context to the services they get from the banking sector.

The first session of the seminar focused on “Banking-2020-Challeneges Ahead”. Shri. B. A. Prabhakar elaborated on the various challenges which the banking sector is likely to face in the days to come. The foremost challenge which the sector is going to face is in relation to funding the infrastructural growth of the country. For funding this industry, banks require huge capital. One of the ways suggested for raising such huge capital was by developing an active corporate bond market. Moreover other issues like inclusive growth, technological up gradation, security issues, talent induction and growth of the small and medium scale industries also needs to be addressed. Until and unless these issues are taken into consideration the growth and success of banking sector cannot be assured.

In the second session the speakers talked about credit management. They mentioned that credit portfolio may get drowned in some years to come. Thereby credit investigation should be done with due diligence. Character, Capacity and Capital are the three factors which any bank looks into before sanctioning credit to any enterprise or individual. When the credit requirement and needs are assessed, a thorough analysis needs to be done. The other three aspects which the banks need to stress upon are Pricing, Documentation and Delivery.

The speakers also elaborated on various other facets like Rural Lending, Paperless Banking, and Financial Inclusion Plans which include the Brick and Mortar Model as well as the Business Correspondence Model, the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, no frill accounts and innovation through Biometric banking. These are the various developments which are likely to happen in the banking sector in the years ahead.

The sessions of the seminar were ably moderated by Prof. (Dr.) Jitendra Mohanty and Prof. Jyotirmaya Mohanty. Many top bankers from across Orissa and students of Finance and Banking discipline attended the seminar.