Mr. Debabrata Sarkar Visits IMI-KOLKATA

Mr. Debabrata Sarkar, the Chairman & Managing Director, Union Bank of India, visited IMI-Kolkata campus on September 28, 2012. He delivered an elaborative and informative speech on the topic ‘Indian Economy: Role of Banking Sector’. Mr. Sarkar began his speech with an overview of the present state of the Indian economy. He put forward an optimistic view of the Indian economy and mentioned that despite all odds Indian economy is doing pretty well and its growth will continue in days to come. Thereafter he went on explaining that among the major contributors to the Indian GDP the services sector has surpassed the contributions of agriculture and manufacturing sectors. This feature of present Indian economy is very surprising since it defies the traditional theory of development where the services sector is supposed to become a forerunner only after the agriculture and industry sectors respectively have grown to their full potential. Within the services sector the banking sector has emerged as a key player. Banks have been able to spread its reach to the rural India to a greater extent. They are providing loans to the farmers and other small rural entrepreneurs on less stringent terms. At the same time they are strengthening the recovery process in order to retain a balance between inflow and outflow of funds. On a macro-level, this sector is making significant contribution in maintaining a sound monetary health of the economy. Banks are now using improved technologies to provide faster, safer and easy-to-access services to its customers. Apart from that the banks are focusing on various CSR activities in discharge of their duties towards the community and environment. On the flip side, however, the sector is facing some NPA problems, which are adversely affecting the financial status of the banks. After discussing all the aspects of the banking sector he concluded that notwithstanding the adversities the banks are gearing up to face the challenges of the present as well as the future.