Is it time to write obituary for physical banks? NITI Aayog CEO Kant says so

According to NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, physical banks will become irrelevant in the next three years in India.

New Delhi, Jan 19: While naysayers have doubts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi government is confident that digitalisation of the banking and financial sectors will make many present things redundant.

Like we have sadly parted ways with many "old things" in the past like typewriters and ambassador cars, to name a few, maybe in the near future physical banks would disappear from cities, towns and villages across the country.

According to NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, physical banks will become irrelevant in the next three years in India.

Speaking at an event on Thursday in the national capital, Kant said physical banks in India will be irrelevant in the next three years as data consumption growth and data analytics are likely to further boost financial inclusion.

"Days of the physical bank will be over...India will throw a huge amount of data, Kant said, adding data analytics would boost financial inclusion in the country.

While speaking at a panel discussion, he said India is the only country with over a billion biometrics. In the next three-four years, India will have a billion plus smartphones, Kant said.

The NITI Aayog CEO also pointed out that mobile data consumption in India is more than the US and China put together.

Participating in the panel discussion, Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said the new banking model in this world will come out of India and Paytm will be an early example of that India model.

After demonetisation of high-value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs, 1,000 was announced on November 8, 2016, PM Modi stated that one of the aims of the note ban was digitalisation of the banking sector.

During the first anniversary of demonetisation last year, bankers said that the move was good for them as it resulted in higher deposits and pushed digitisation at a faster pace.

OneIndia News