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.

Chief Minister, culture & cohesive focus on Innovation

The post lunch session had a peppy start thanks to the fast-paced, thought-provoking AV by Mr Erik Roth, McKinsey & Co, who drew a few laughs and in his own inimitable style posed this question to the audience: How do large Companies innovate? 80% executives agree that their business models are at risk. When there is no natural incentive for innovation, then Companies struggle to innovate.  Profitable innovation is not an accident. Quoting Edison he reinforced, “Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration” and continued with recent innovations like a cat-shaped mouse that was used before the mouse became omnipresent. Innovation has different rules; real breakthroughs are low cost. Constraint breeds creativity. New customer segments are the best to find new insight. These are some of the nuggets he shared with the audience. 

 

One of the speakers narrated his online experience with amazon.com and how the corporate is able to attract browsers and turn them into buyers. Banking is necessary, banks are not. Dr S B Majumdar, Chancellor, Symbiosis, said speed, scale and sustainability are essential for innovation. Drawing from his personal experience he said how even tables in a bank could intimidate the marginalized, tribals or those who have never seen bank interiors. To make them feel at home, he was advised to place bidis in a corner, wear simple clothing and talk their language.

Hon’ble Chief Minister, Mr Prithviraj Chavan, made a dignified entry and took a trip down memory lane – globally reprimanded on nationalization of PSBs. Banking will play an important role in legislating the Right to Credit. Our natural resources can’t make us rich, dams need to be upstreamed, ExpertSystems developed to further hone technological innovations and migration should be addressed.

Mr Sasi Sunkara, McKinsey mentioned PSUs have been more prevalent at the cost of co-operative banks. Polarisation of rural masses exemplifies affluence. Banks should modify strategy to suit opportunity cannot merely downsize an urban model. 

Mr Mathew Titus, Executive Director, Sa-Dhan, opined that India should have been more urbanized, China has overtaken us. Ms Archana Bhargava, Executive Director, Canara Bank, explained how life in villages was self-sufficent, but not anymore. Banks should undertake financial literacy. Mr R Shridhar, MD & CEO, Shriram Capital, elaborated on the perspective of first time truck drivers applying for a loan; without having anything to offer as collateral or security; repaying loans in instalments. A member of the audience, Arun Kaushik, Birla Sun Life, put forth his view that sharing resources like co-branding ATMs, will reduce costs.

To refresh after a grueling day, the delegates were treated to an engaging entertainment programme by the famous Gandharva troupe that performed several dances. Beginning with invoking not just Ganesha but also his wives Riddhi-Siddhi, followed by a song-and-story combo of the Kolis (fisherfolk), depicting their travails at sea and another in which bulls are worshipped to thank them for their contribution in ploughing the soil. This was followed by contestants of a popular television musical, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, regaling the audience with foot-tapping numbers. The first performer, a banking student introduced herself as Pune-chi-mulgi after she rendered a snazzy number from an evergreen Hindi movie.