SBI chief frets payments banks to push competition

Beena Parmar Updated - January 23, 2018 at 01:45 PM.

Amid continued concerns over competition from 11 upcoming new payments banks, State Bank of India (SBI) chief said it will bring the "dog's world" into the banking industry.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of SBI, country's largest bank, said, "The financial sector has been moving faster than the way we have been responding to it."

According to her, the new banks are coming with no legacy and won't be held hostage by industry agreements. "Burning capital and gaining market share has become the new reality and we have to look at responding to that...," she said adding that she is not sure if new banks have the capital to burn.

According to Shikha Sharma, CEO and MD of third largest private lender Axis Bank, existing banks must be allowed advisory role in nonfinancial segments. "There is a compelling urge to think on that..."

Bhattacharya of SBI, which has tied up with payments bank licence winner Reliance Industries,  was of the view that "if you can't beat them, join them".

Rival ICICI Bank's (country's larger private lender), Chief Chanda Kochhar said the cost of transactions need to come down by getting more account holders in villages to use banking and build relationship to make these transactions profitable.

Published on August 24, 2015 16:41