Banking sector should be people-friendly and development-friendly, says Sunil Ambekar

New Delhi, Aug 23: Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) national organising secretary Sunil Ambekar spoke to OneIndia on the sidelines of India Banking Conclave (IBC) where he was one of the inaugural speakers.

Here are the excerpts of the interview:

Q.You are here to participate in India Banking Conclave and you talked about high inspiration level of people of the country especially youths with whom you interact regularly. How do you link aspiration with economy?

A I am talking about inspiration as they are doing start up, stand up, innovations and new researchs for the country and they want to start entrepreneurship. So it is very natural that if any entrepreneurship takes place, it is not possible without the involvement of banking sector and finances. If it is getting linked with aspirations, we can start new industries with our own patents which will be important for the country and for the development of the country. It will give employment to people as well.

Q. Banking and technology are getting linked to each other, how could they be used for the growth trajectory?

A. I used two words - people friendly and development friendly. People friendly means that there must be an environment of ease of doing business and for that banking sector is the most important sector. Whatever loan and financial support people are getting they must get it as easily as possible. In other words it must be available to them easily. Financial institution are not just for depositing and withdrawing money but they are equally important for the processing loans and getting it. And as swiftly as it gets digitized that fast we will be able to achieve it. See if any project is made and its financing is delayed so much that if the project was valued at Rs 10 crore, its cost goes up to Rs 12 crore, how will enterprenure manage. And what will the person do with Rs 10 crore finance. So it should be done in the real time and digitization plays an important role.

Q. There were several bold decisions taken by the government, how do you see its impact on economy and youths?

A. It has very nice impact. Moreover, if there is any problem it can be solved. But if pin pointedly any matter is taken up and if we think futuristically that if any such problem is created in the future what role the government will play. So youth believe that the government will solve any problem boldly. So youths can take risk to do new business.

Q. It is being talked about that economy is not only big-city centric but focus is shifting in the rural areas.

A. People are developing taste for our food and they want man-made food. People want heritage cloths, organic food and our rural sector is where all these things are there. People want variety even the film story should be original which is available in the rural area.

Q. So you mean focus will be changed from agriculture sector to film to many other things

A. People want original, organic, heritage, vintage and ethnic.

Q. How the organic farming is linked to banking and finance sector?

A. If bank will not consider organic project as a viable project how will it finance as it is not part of the set agenda. It might not be in the formal documents of any agency (financial). Most of the organic thing is in informal sector. Banks will have to take them up as a viable projects.

Q. People started talking about India aspiring to become a developed nation, how realistic this aspiration could be?

A. There cannot be any fixed time frame for it but it could be made possible very soon. It is possible in the real time. Youth is our biggest asset who are aspiring which is important and could be converted into a reality.