Digital delivery

New-age banks will increase inclusion

The Union finance minister’s declaration at the Atlantic Council think tank that the government is planning to set up as many as 75 digital-only banks or non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) gives rise to some intriguing questions. It is not very clear why the government feels the need to expand the ecosystem in this way. The sector regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has issued several reports and advisories on the subject. The RBI defined what it called “Digital Banking Units” (DBU) in a recent report, and in November, it released an update on the state of digital lending. A