Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has urged banks to utilise digital footprints generated by UPI to expand their balance sheets. She made these remarks during a Bank of Maharashtra event on Thursday.
“I would like to think that the potential of the Indian banking system rests on one particular feature of UPI. Actually giving us the advantage is something you can plan for the future,” Sitharaman said.
Launched in 2016, UPI has significantly transformed retail digital payments in India. According to Sitharaman, 45% of global real-time digital payments are conducted in India.
Data from NPCI show that UPI transactions in India increased to 1,496 crore in August from 1,444 crore in July. In value, UPI transactions in August amounted to Rs 20.6 lakh crore. Sitharaman noted that UPI is now used in seven other countries: Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore, UAE, and Mauritius.
Sitharaman emphasized the importance of technology adoption by banks for risk mitigation, improved customer service, credit assessment, and fraud detection. She stated, “Big data analytics can be used to offer customised products. Banks need to target particular groups.” She also suggested that banks should support businesses to recover from stress rather than waiting for them to fail.
(With ToI inputs)
