Banking: Yesterday, today and tomorrow

With the customer spoilt for choice, the option for the banking industry in the new decade is between going digital or dying

As we move ahead in 2021, let’s look back at how banking evolved in India in the first two decades of this century. And what to expect next.

The growth in Indian economy and the level of inflation in the first two decades should set the context. The gross domestic product (GDP) at constant prices grew at an annualised average rate of 6.28 per cent in the first decade and 6.66 per cent in the second. The average inflation in the first decade was 5.4 per cent; this rose to 6.30 per cent in the second. Incidentally, the Reserve Bank of