Be commercially viable, socially responsible: MoS for Finance Jayant Sinha to banks

PUNE: Reflecting the government's pro-poor and pro-business approach, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha today asked PSU banks to be socially responsible while ensuring their commercial viability.

"Though this is a Government of the poor...it is also a pro-business Government. So, the trade-off has to be managed by ensuring that the public sector banks are able to function commercially while financing the poor as well," Sinha said at the inaugural session of a two-day bankers' retreat here.

The government has been implementing a slew of initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, for taking banking services to the poor, while under law, lenders are also mandated to devote 40 per cent of their lending to the upliftment of targeted sectors.

In his speech, Sinha made it clear that this government does not believe in a "rights based approach" of the previous UPA regime, but in making the people live with dignity.

The philosophy which guides the government is "empowerment and not entitlement", he said, adding that schemes like the PMJDY are designed to help in this effort.

He also reiterated the maxim of "minimum government and maximum governance" wherein the administration will only act as a facilitator.

Sinha asked the bankers to work collectively in collaboration to maximise the impact in the ecosystem and asked the bankers to crystallise key action steps, which will be presented to the Prime Minister tomorrow.

The bankers should provide suggestions which could lead the economy to 7-8 per cent sustainable and non-inflationary GDP growth, he said.