The Hindu Business Line : Go for next, best practice, Narayana Murthy tells banks

(From left) Mr L. Raghavendra Rao, Senior Consultant, ICICI Infotech; Mr R.N. Ramanathan, Deputy Managing Director, SBI; Mr Achutan Nair, President, Wipro Infotech BFSI division; and Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and Chairman, Infosys Technologies, at a banking conference in Bangalore on Thursday. - - G. R. N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Sept. 16

THE Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies, Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy called upon the banking industry on Thursday to adopt a three-pronged strategy — speed, imagination and excellence in execution — to survive and succeed in the competitive global environment.

Chairing a session at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) Banking Conference on Thursday, Mr Murthy said that there was an urgent need for Indian banks to bring in innovation to have tremendous flexibility, next practices and best practices. "Only those banks which use speed, imagination and excellence in execution will survive. Others will disappear like dew in the morning," Mr Murthy said, adding that individual banks should adopt a strategy to have uniqueness in marketplace.

"However, the distinction," Mr Murthy said, "might not last long as others will catch up with you" . Indian banks have several legacy issues that hampered their progress, including inadequate customer support, human resources practices and a customer-centric focus, Mr Murthy said. "The next wave of change is coming our way. We should open up much more to benefit from best and next practices." Murthy said.

Mr R. N. Ramnathan, Deputy Managing Director, IT, State Bank of India, said that banks have felt the need to adopt technology to be in the race to get new customers. Top management support and good implementation practices are the pre-requisites for the successful implementation of technology, he added.

Commenting on the technology adoption trends, Mr Achutan Nair, President of Wipro Infotech's BFSI division said, "Part of the technology implementation will be driven by the new regulations and compliance issues. It will also be around the lines of business of banks, which drive differentiation".

Rapid transmission of risks, integration of technology with business and costs and redundancy of technology are among the challenges faced by banks in implementing technology, said Mr Raghavendra Rao of ICICI Infotech.