Bancon2012 in a nutshell

The last weekend of November saw the men in black – bankers in their formal best, troop into Mariott Pune for BANCON 2012, to review, reform, and rethink banking. Bank of Maharashtra had the privilege of hosting it in partnership with Indian Banks Association (IBA). Day 1 witnessed a flurry of activity with the Hon’ble Finance Minister, Shri P Chidambaram, inaugurating the meet with the traditional lighting of the lamp, releasing a report by McKinsey & Co, launching the Ru-Pay card and presenting it to five farmers and also a single number for financial assistance. Ru-Pay jointly with NABARD gives farmers the opportunity of financial inclusion and its catch jingle, Chal pade gaon, toh chal pade India aptly summed up its theme. *99# will empower users through mobile banking. The minister began his impressive speech by comparing the financial system as the lifeline of any economy, with banks being the heart in a body. He spoke about farmers, students and women as good customers for their repayment record. His interesting observations included how people in non-metros want to borrow amounts as small as 10,000 to upgrade their set-up. He urged banks to channelize this demand and regional banks to maintain their own distinct flavor; even after consolidation of top banks, when India becomes the third largest economy.

Post-lunch, when Chief Minister, Shri Prithviraj Chavan took to the dais, he also shared interesting nuggets like the scope for voice-input technology and how credit to farming increased by 47% due to commercial banking. Many speakers lauded NABARD for its phenomenal work. A cultural programme was lined up for the evening consisting of the fisherfolk song amongst others by the Gandharva troupe and popular Bollywood numbers belted by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa participants.

Day 2 was action packed with parallel sessions. Granularity as a way of thinking was the focus and how standardization by banks works against it. Dr Subir Gokarn, DG, RBI, enthralled the audience by reflecting the reality about India’s skyrocketing demand for gold and how Gold Accumulation Plan, Gold Linked Account, Gold Pension Plan, ETFs could work in this scenario.

The audience radiated inner peace with the smile guru Shri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s tips on how to build an inhibition-free intellect and violence-free society. Stay in the present, just like a child, he advised and strongly made a case against Indian society giving business a bad name. Meditation helped the sleep-deprived, stressed bankers prep up for the marathon round of sessions in the afternoon. 

 

 
Mr H R Khan, DG, RBI stated 40% in India have a bank account; 13% have credit cards and 2% have debit cards and elaborated on GIRO system, BBAN and E-BAAT. Shri Naro Narain Meena, Hon’ble Union Minister, State for Finance explicitly mentioned how entrepreneurs could use a good blend of innovations and technology.