Mumbai: Banks must continue to innovate to sail through the changing global landscape, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, exuding confidence that the nation’s largest bank State Bank will embrace technology, sustainability and inclusivity as its guiding principles as it enters the diamond jubilee year.
The world is changing rapidly, and the banking sector must continue to innovate to lead. I am confident that SBI will rise to the occasion, embracing technology, sustainability and inclusivity as its guiding principles," Sitharaman said while launching the platinum jubilee celebrations of SBI at its headquarters here Saturday.
Noting that SBI is reinventing its personal distribution channels to align with evolving customer expectations, she said, as the largest commercial bank, serving over 51 crore account holders, SBI has become more agile and competitive than ever before.
Sitharaman said SBI is now ideally positioned to deliver superior value creation through sustainable growth by enhancing its operational excellence across lending performance, asset quality, profitability and capital generation, thereby driving wealth creation.
The SBI was constituted by an Act of Parliament on July 1, 1955. Since then, the bank's customer base rose to over 51 crore. Its total business grew to Rs 87 trillion, and employs over 2.37 lakh.
As part of the diamond jubilee celebrations, the minister inaugurated 70 branches, and 501 women customer service points.
The bank has reinforced its commitment to social impact by allocating Rs 26 crore towards 17 CSR initiatives across its 17 local head offices, chairman CS Setty said.