Experience Next - towards next level of Cooperative Banking

The brick and mortar model system in our banking would remain for years to come because we have a population which is rural and which is dependent on the agriculture sector, feels Pramod Karnad, former MD, Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank.

Deliberating on the topic ‘Experience Next’ at the FCBA 2019 and NBFC 2019, he said in India there are unbanked areas, and hence it is a long journey for digital transformation of the banking sector. The day when there will be no bank branches and banks will be fully digital is very far off, he felt, pointing out that still there are no digital branches for PSU banks or private banks in the country. But there will be digital bank branches in India both for the commercial banks and cooperative banks, he said.

Karnad also pointed out that most of the cooperative banks in the country are on the CBS platform and they have adopted several technologies.

Drawing a comparison, he said in western countries, there are digital banks, which do not have any physical branches, and where everything is online and on digital platform. Bank branches are disappearing in these countries, he pointed out.