Digital banking push turned into pull factor: former SBI Chairman

New Delhi, Dec 7 Digitisation of banking services in India, which started as a "push", has now turned into a "pull" factor, State Bank of India's former Chairman Rajnish Kumar said on Tuesday.

In a discussion session on his book titled "The Custodian of Trust - a Banker's Memoir" - written post his retirement "when he had a lot of leisure time" - at the Management Development Institute in Gurugram, he said: "Everybody is talking about technology in a big way. The government's push to digital initially, I would say, was a push. But, now it has changed into a pull factor.

"Now the consumers want (it). Covid accelerated that because people now want everything touch less."

On FinTech evolution, he said that the sector has an advantage as it can first design the front end and subsequently the back end, which is the reverse for legacy banks.

People are now willing to embrace technology-driven solutions, he said.

Digital payments in India have risen exponentially in the past few years.

In addition, cost of service delivery can be reduced substantially with the help of digital infrastructure, he said.

The Jan Dhan Yojana-Aadhar-Mobile, also known as 'JAM trinity', helped in pushing digital growth in the country, he added.