THOOTHUKUDI, SEP 12
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said banks, including private sector, should embrace digitisation towards ensuring that government schemes reach the poor and downtrodden, besides adopting financial inclusion for a wider reach.
Delivering her address at the centenary celebrations of the Thoothukudi-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank here, Sitharaman said even during Covid-19 pandemic with the use of digitisation through banking correspondents, the government’s financial disbursements were distributed to the needy after verifying their details.
“Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) was clearly aware that banking is important and did not hesitate that there can be accounts with zero balance, if they were opened under the Jandhan Yojana scheme (launched in 2014). ..But he ensured that everyone must hold a bank account and be able to transact through a RuPay card,” she said.
Stating that the government distributed Rs. 1,500 in three installments to the needy through their bank accounts during the Covid-19 outbreak, she said there are lot of changes happening in the banking sector at a “fast pace” through digitisation.
“There is no necessity to open a branch in a place which does not have a bank. Today, to reach a bank account of the people who live there, all kinds of technologies are available…Even sitting from Thoothukudi one can serve the banking requirements of people living in small villages through technology”, she said. “The way forward for any bank, particularly for a bank like Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, to be more efficient, is to adopt complete technology related solutions’ ‘, she said.
“Today financial technology is the biggest area and using that we can able to populate data into forms. It may be Income Tax or GST related. Auto-populating data (of a consumer) has been very useful (today),” she said. Auto-populating data can be done only through ‘digitisation’ and the management of TMB should think of greater use of digitisation,” she said.
“There are a lot of prospects for banking…I think it is important for digitisation to be completely brought in. Digitisation cannot be avoided for your own good and for the sake of customers,” she said, adding TMB should onboard all its customers and ensure Financial Inclusion is implemented.
Sitharaman after presenting a financial assistance to a beneficiary of the Tamilnad Mercantile Bank under the ‘PM Svanidhi scheme’, said today you are presenting a cheque to a woman who runs a business by selling ‘idlies’ in her pushcart, you are able to distribute the financial assistance because there is a scheme like PM Jandhan Yojana (financial inclusion scheme).
“If that scheme was not available, today you would not have been able to distribute the assistance to the woman. It would not have been possible if PM Jandhan Yojana was not launched in 2014,” she said. Tamilnad Mercantile Bank’s 74 percent of business was through “priority” sector lending and through this banks were able to expand into rural areas.
During the Covid-19 outbreak, the Centre introduced the Emergency Credit Guarantee Liquidity Scheme towards enabling MSMEs to do business without collecting any additional collateral required, she said.
Bank launches initiatives to celebrate 100th anniversary
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank on Sunday rolled out a host of initiatives to mark its centennial, including doorstep banking services for the convenience of customers besides an awareness campaign on Covid-19 vaccination.
Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman kicked off the centenary celebrations of the bank in Thoothukudi, by launching a postal stamp and a specialised ”postal card”.
The bank’s managing director and CEO, K V Rama Moorthy said the bank has stood the test of time and witnessed various historical events like the country’s independence, emergency situation and liberalization of the economy.
“To help borrowers overcome the impact of Covid-19, the bank has covered 13,753 beneficiaries by disbursing Rs 1,567.62 crore. We were the first bank to introduce Robotics in currency chest to sort and bundle currencies in order to provide quality service to customers”, Moorthy said in a press release.
“As part of our Centenary celebrations, we are kick-starting multiple initiatives, starting with special postage stamp and postal cards. We are also launching the TMB Mobile DigiLobby and a Mobile Vaccination Drive to support our communities. “, he said.
The disbursement of loans to pharmaceuticals and health care facilities would be at the heart of year-long series of events and initiatives, he added.
In FY 2020-21, the bank’s net profit stood at Rs 603 crore as against Rs 408 crore in FY 2019-20.
Total advances were Rs 31,541 crore during the period as compared to Rs 28,236 crore recorded in same period last year, while total deposits grew to Rs 40,970 crore during the period under review from Rs 36,825 crore registered previous year, the release added.
