NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, January 30, 2014

I was in India a few weeks ago speaking to the Reserve Bank and most of the primary Retail Banks about the impact of mobile and social media on the industry there. The new RBI Governor in India, Raghuram Rajan, has ruffled some feathers with his unconventional approach thus far, but he has his work cut out for him with a very traditional market, with very traditional views.

Enshrined in the banking culture and in bank regulations is the perceived 1:1 relationship between branches and Financial Inclusion. This is not unheard of in developed economies either, but in India it is so much a part of the culture that no one has rethought this paradigm in a very long time.