Sitharaman in US: Govt setting up 75 digital banks this year, says FM

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India is planning to set up 75 “digital only” banks and non-banking financial companies, also known as NBFCs, to ensure business community within the lending system is not impacted even in exceptional times. She was delivering a speech at the Washington DC-based think tank Atlantic Council.

The Finance Minister explained that the government made efforts to achieve macroeconomic stability by recapitalising banks and raising forex reserves.

She was quoted as saying by news agency PTI, “Bad loans and provisioning were taxing. We have to keep infusing money into banks… We have amalgamated several of them… The Reserve Bank of India has also been very nimble about setting up ‘digital only’ NBFCs. Now, we are in the process of setting up digital banks as well, not one but 75 of them this year.”