Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked banks to adopt a more customer-friendly approachMumbai: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that banks need to be more customer-friendly in their approachso that credit availing becomes hassle-free.Ms Sitharaman said this during a post-budget discussion with industry representatives in Mumbai, making it clear at the same time that banks don't have tobe lenient on credit underwriting standards by taking any adverse risks on a proposal.During the interaction, there was a suggestion from a start-up representative forcredit to be available hassle-free, to which State Bank of India's chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said a startup's worries are more on the equity side and assured full support in lending if sufficient equity is on the table.Stressing that the person asking the question is a woman operating an innovative enterprise, Ms Sitharaman had a few suggestions for the banking community and also spoke out against their attitude."Initially, Mr Khara gave a very bland answer.
And then after being prompted somewhat, he went into talking about a scheme which has a lot of government support, the credit guarantee fund trust for micro and small enterprises (CGTMSE)," she said."Banks will have to be a lot more customer friendly.
Not to the extent of taking adverse risks which you don't need to take, but you need to be a lot more friendly to customers," the minister said.Mr Khara said the focus is on increasing the reliance on end-to-end digitalisation of the process, which will ensure a hassle-free experience.He said in the next two months, the bank will go fully digital for lending.
Also, provided there is credible cashflow visibility available to a bank, the credit growth to small businesses can touch that of personal loans over time.