Need world-class banks, in talks with RBI, lenders: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the country needed big and world-class banks, and discussions were on with the Reserve Bank of India and lenders in this regard. Addressing the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025, Sitharaman asked lenders to deepen and widen credit flow to the industry, exuding confidence that GST rate cut-driven demand would unleash a virtuous investment cycle.

She advised that access to finance was absolutely critical and that a system-driven, transparent lending process was essential. Stressing that India needed a lot of big and world-class banks, she said, “The government is looking at this and work has already commenced. We are discussing with the RBI. We are discussing with banks.” Before the government takes a call on this, she said, a lot of the work had to be done, including taking inputs from the RBI as to how they wanted to build larger banks.

“It is not by creating from those which exist today...just by amalgamation that can also be one of the routes, but you need an ecosystem and an environment in which more banks can operate and operate to grow. So, that environment is actually well established in India, but I needed to be more dynamic. So, some work is happening on it,” she said.