Banks to play key role in govt achieving exports targets of US$ 2 trillion by 2030: Sitharaman

Mumbai/Delhi : Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday asked banks to focus on customers engaged in exports to ensure the targets set by the government for outward shipments are achieved.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), Sitharaman noted the role of banks in achieving exports target and said that banks need to identify export customers and understand the nature of their business.

“If emphasis in the government is for exports and if this is the kind of target, US$ 400 billion within a year, it cannot happen unless banks are going to be nimble. Identify your export customers. Make sure you understand the nature of their business. Make sure you understand the countries to which they are exporting and therefore you have to have a lot more understanding of each of the businesses,” the Finance Minister said.

Sitharaman said that the government has set an exports target of US$ 2 trillion by 2030 in which US$1 trillion is of merchandise and the U$1 trillion is going to be export in the services sector.

“In a changing world, in a rapidly changing world the way businesses have to adapt to the demands of the customers outside and the way in which many businesses are relocating themselves post pandemic there shall be a lot challenges in terms of the ways in which you are going to look at the customers’ needs,” the Finance Minister said.

She also highlighted the need for scaling up banking operations in the country in the face of growing requirements.

“We need to scale up banking to meet new changing and growing requirements. That was thought of even before the pandemic. Now there are all the more reasons why we would need 4-5 SBIs (banks of State Bank of India’s size) in this country,” the minister said.

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