M Nagaraju, Secretary, Ministry of Financial Services
“…most of the lending would have to happen digitally (by 2047). And a lot of it would have to happen. Even then, we would need new banks. Banks that cater to the different needs of different segments, industries and population groups,” Nagaraju said.
“Now how do we get these new banks. We have two to three ways to get the banks. One of them is of course NBFCs. There are a large number of NBFCs available at the moment, some of which can always be thought of. The other are SFBs which can also move to universal banks…,” he said, adding that lenders need to prioritize meeting compliance norms as they scale up.
Indian NBFCs have different regulatory standards than banks, and several NBFCs in the top tier or large corporate category are run by large companies. For example, Bajaj Finance, Tata Capital, L&T Finance, Aditya Birla Finance and Piramal Finance are promoted by major corporate groups. Traditionally, the Reserve Bank of India does not allow corporate groups to hold banking licenses due to the risk of conflict of interest. Several large corporate-managed NBFCs are not even licensed to accept deposits from the RBI.
Size of GDP
Nagaraju says to achieve the broader goals of Vikasit Bharat by 2047, India’s GDP needs to rise to $30 trillion, while per capita income needs to rise to $20,000-$22,000. To meet these benchmarks, bank lending must grow at an average annual rate of 13 percent, while GDP must grow by 9.3 percent each fiscal year.
Banks should also focus on providing more agricultural, micro, small and medium enterprises and education loans for GDP growth and per capita income growth, he said.
Published on November 6, 2025
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