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Journalism of Courage
INDIAN banks should no longer plan just for growth, rather they must start thinking of changing the scale, and try to figure among the top 10 banks in the world, said Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation on Thursday at the Financial Express Best Banks Awards event in Mumbai.
Addressing senior bankers and industry leaders, Shah asked banks to provide funds to the small and medium enterprises since they were key to nation building. “If banks don’t value MSMEs, it amounts to stopping their growth which is unfortunate. MSMEs have huge potential. Look at Ambani, Adani, Torrent, etc… all of them started as MSMEs.”
The government stands guarantee for MSMEs, he said.
Shah dwelt on the reforms undertaken by the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade to chalk out robust economic growth along with regaining the lost trust of the citizens in the banking sector.
“Over the years, we have strongly enforced ease of doing business where 40,000 compliances have been removed. Efforts have been taken to tackle criminalisation and corruption which was rampant in the past through introducing penalty and action. We are shortly moving forward to Jan Vishwas Bill 2 with zero criminal economy,” he said.
According to Shah, financial inclusion was a key factor which helped India withstand the economic challenges witnessed globally. Hence, while major countries are witnessing sluggish growth at 1-2 per cent, India’s growth rate is 7-8 per cent. Shah said when the developed countries are facing growth stagnation, and most of the developing ones are struggling with high debt, India remained the lone bright spot on the global economic landscape. Stating that structural reforms , process reforms, digital revolution and welfare schemes have been judiciously combined by the government to push inclusive growth, he said the reforms taken up by the Modi government has led analysts around the world to recognise India’s growth story.
He listed electric vehicles, battery technology, green energy, fintech, space and defence manufacturing as areas that would reinforce India’s growth story in the coming years.
In an interaction with Financial Express Editor Shyamal Majumdar and Executive Editor Rishi Raj, Shah tried to explain the Swadeshi philosophy of the government. “Jo cheez banane main Bharat ke logon ka pasina baha hain, uska upayog karna chahiye,” he said. (People should buy things produced in the country with Indian sweat and labour.)
To a question if reforms were slowing down because the BJP itself did not get more than 272 seats, Shah said a coalition provides strength to the country and was not a sign of weakness.
A coalition government without a single party majority would not in any way retard the pace of policy-making or scuttle reforms required to catapult India to the status of a self-reliant developed country by 2047, the 100th year of Independence. Referring to the slew of policy decisions of great import taken by the Narendra Modi 3.0 government he said: “We do know the art of running a coalition. We have already done it twice before… An alliance can never be a constraint for the development of the country. There is no question of (coalition compulsions) being speed-breaker,” he said, adding that there will be no let up in the pace of reforms.
In his address, the Home Affairs and Cooperation Minister said GST was the biggest step which Modiji dreamt and made it a reality. The simplified tax reforms with income tax waiver upto Rs 12 lakh has brought huge relief to the citizens. Hailing the GST tax cuts that followed personal income tax slab changes and reduction in corporate tax rate, he said, “From Nehru ji till today, no one has implemented such a major tax cut as PM Modi has through the Next Gen GST reforms.”
He said with the recent round of the Goods and Services tax (GST) cuts, the government has been able to win the taxpayers’ trust.
“In the Congress regime, phone banking was the norm. The bad loans showed a steep rise. The statistics show during Congress, NPA (1999) was 16 per cent which was brought down during NDA 2004 at 7.8 per cent. Again when UPA was voted to power (2004 onwards), NPA shot from 7.8 per cent to 19 per cent. If we look at the ten years of Modiji’s rule (2014-2025), NPA has dropped from 19 per cent to 2.5 per cent,” he said.
“We have focussed on four Rs – Recognise, Recover, Recapitalise and Reforms — to eliminate corruption and bad loans. The present government believes in transparency and accountability in the banking sector with stress in financial inclusion. As a result we could carry out 86 major reforms in the banking sector alone,” he said.
“Today, there are 56 crore accounts and our deposits stand at Rs 2.64 lakh crore. The digital push has allowed even a vegetable seller today to adopt UPI. With 57 crore internet users and 95 per cent 5G coverage achieved by May 2025, we have come a long way. The digital transformation is no longer confined to cities but moved into villages,” he said.
Responding to the ongoing India-US tariff trade talks, Shah said, “Whatever be the outcome, it will be in national interest and we should trust and leave it to the wisdom of our Prime Minister and commerce minister Piyush Goyal.”
Shah also touched upon the issue of democracy and leadership around the world and pointed at how India stands out. “People’s faith in democracy, democratic systems and principles has wavered in many places. There is a crisis of credibility on leadership as well. There are even disputes about the sovereignty and boundaries of the nation. There is deep political polarisation. At this juncture, the Indian economy is vibrant and is poised to acquire its rightful place of pride,” Shah said.
In his address, Viveck Goenka, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Express Group, said banks are teaming up with digital lenders for co-lending, and partnering with fintechs in a bid to explore what lies beyond traditional channels. He also commended the government’s efforts to prepare the country’s cooperative movement for the challenges of the present times.
The event was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy CM Eknath Shinde and leading industry captains including Prashant Ruia of Essar Group, Pranav Adani from Adani Group, Ashok Hinduja from Hinduja Group and SBI chairman CS Shetty among others.
Axis Bank’s MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry won the Banker of the Year award, while Shyam Srinivasan, former MD & CEO of Federal Bank was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
