The banking sector of India is constantly evolving. For example, 21st century witnessed an upsurge in the usage of ATM’s, mobile banking, and internet banking. The Indian Parliament passed a bill called the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill in 2012, which changed the landscape of this industry. According to the bill, the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has the right to make guidelines for issuing new licenses. This could increase the number of banks in the country, drastically.

It has been estimated that the banking sector will generate about 2 million new jobs in the next 10 years. This development will be driven by the combined efforts of RBI and the Government of India to integrate financial services in rural areas. Also, with the advent of technology, the traditional method of operations will soon give way to a tech-savvy method of conducting business.

Market Value

In the financial year 2013, the total banking assets in India reached US$ 1.8 trillion, a number that is expected to cross US$ 28.5 trillion by FY25. A growth of 21.2% in the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) was witnessed in the bank deposits from FY06 to FY13. It has been anticipated that the banking sector credit will grow at a CAGR of 18.1% and reach US$ 2.4 trillion by 2017. As per the report by Emkay Global Financial Services, ICICI bank witnessed a 141.6% growth in its personal loan disbursement in 2014. Axis Bank too saw a discernible growth in personal loan business – 49.8%, and its credit card business – 31.1%.

Government initiatives

The Reserve Bank of India has made it highly flexible for banks to refinance long-gestation project loans that cost Rs.1, 000 crore or more. It has also made it a standard practice for other financial institutions to buyout such loans, partially. Initially, buyers were obligated to buy at least 50% of the loan from the existing bank. Now, they can easily obtain 25% of the loan value that will also be treated as “standard”.

In other news, SBI is vying to launch a tap-and-go or contact-less card to make payments in India. This is a technology that has been adopted in many countries like UK, Canada, and Australia, wherein the customers just wave their cards over a point-of-sale terminal that reads the card and makes transactions. SBI also intends to empower its account holders with a customer call facility. This facility will help the users get important information about last five transactions, available balance, and cheque book request on their cell phones.

In the future

India has not yet tapped into the complete potential of digital financial services and mobile banking. We are still exploring these avenues. As per a particular report, almost 47% of the people in India have bank accounts out of which almost half are lying dormant due to the dependency on cash transactions. Despite the shortcomings, this industry still has a lot of promise. It has been estimated that the banking sector of India could become the 5th largest industry in the world by 2020, and the 3rd largest by 2025. Banks today are focussing more on client servicing and improving their technology infrastructure. This will not only make the customer experience better, but will give banks a competitive edge as well.

Conclusion

Looking at the sheer value of numbers, working in an Indian bank is quite appealing. The banking industry strives to provide innumerable perks and benefits to its employees in order to ensure a secure and comfortable tenure. A career in banking is highly lucrative in the long run. As is mentioned above, a large number of bank jobs might get created in the next 10 years. So, why not jump on the bandwagon and land a cushiony job for life this instant?