‘States have to work closely with the banking sector to ensure credit flow to all’

Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said it is in the interest of states (which do not control currency and repo rates) to work closely with the banking sector to ensure that lifesaving loans reach everyone on time.

Delivering the keynote address at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s event ‘The India Finance Forum (TIFF) 2022’, he said that the Indian banking system and credit market need a lot of reforms.

The 12th edition of TIFF was organized virtually on the theme ‘Beyond Resilience: Turnaround and Transformation’.

Mr Rajan said the unsecured credit growth in India has been very poor, which was acting as a hindrance to ensuring social justice and equity and economic fairness in particular. The finance minister said that he had made it a point to attend all state level bankers’ committee meetings, and had sought data on the performance of each bank branch to know what was happening and necessary action, if necessary. Do it. Mr Rajan also reaffirmed his point about closing the gap between the declared intent and the result. As an example, he pointed out that the central government and RBI had announced various COVID-19 relief measures for MSMEs, but there was a lack of awareness at the branch level.

The Finance Minister reiterated the need to reform cooperative federalism, where the central government sets the agenda and drives the vision, and states and local bodies need to implement them, especially in the middle and bottom reaches of the pyramid. For. Mr. Rajan stressed the need for improving administrative capacity in the government, citing the recent example of shortage of IAS officers at the central and state levels. He also stressed on the need to reform the GST system. In his keynote address, Roopa Dutta, Principal Advisor, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, highlighted the various measures taken by the Center during the pre-COVID and COVID period.

“The government is focusing on building world-class industrial infrastructure. Next generation infrastructure will see an investment of $1.4 trillion in the coming years,” said Ms. Dutta.