Banking Reform Needs Focus

......A focus on inclusion would be most timely. It would coincide with the introduction of direct cash transfers. The scheme is billed as a game-changer for routing government payments and subsidies. It could prove a game-changer for banks as well. Millions of accounts will have to be opened that carry the promise of huge float funds. Because it meshes economic priorities with the long-term commercial interests of banks, financial inclusion should now be the focus of banking reform. If this is accepted, we have a basis for dealing with licences for NPBs. Among non-banking finance companies, those that have a network of branches in the interior should have priority. As for industrial houses, the issue of licences must be clearly linked to the objective of financial inclusion.........

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