Jan Dhan Yojana offers opportunity for banks: Kotak

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana offered an opportunity for local banks to grow their businesses in the current uncertain economic environment, says Uday Kotak, executive vice-chairman and managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

"The banking industry is presently in the midst of significant stress. The Jan Dhan Yojana has a great vision, but execution is important. Financial inclusion cannot happen without the support of the society and other players. Banks alone cannot make the society economically inclusive. But the Jan Dhan Yojana offers tremendous opportunity for the Indian banking sector," Kotak said while addressing the Ananta Aspen Centre's flagship "CEO Series" forum here. Ananta Aspen Centre is a New Delhi-based institution working on international relations, public policy and value-based leadership.

The government introduced the Jan Dhan Yojana last month with an objective to provide a bank account to every household in the country. The government has set a target of opening 75 million bank accounts by January 26, 2015. Around 15 million bank accounts were opened on the day the scheme was launched.

Kotak also said there was a need for a re-think on the process in which subsidies are currently offered to consumers. "The question on the table is do we want to give subsidies to the consumer or make him pay? If you want to subsidise, give it directly from the government budget, but let the markets work. The minute we start working on changing the components of the vertical - such as coal - things get mixed up and vitiate the markets," he added.

Separately, Kotak said he was impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign policy. "On foreign policy, especially, you have to hand it to the Prime Minister. He has already covered the immediate neighbourhood and Japan, and now the President of China is coming to India. Now, the need for the government is to get the strategic framework in place between vision and project management," he said.

Kotak Mahindra Group