Banks should bring in innovative products to mobilise deposits: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday asked banks to come up with innovative and attractive schemes to mobilise deposits.

Addressing the media after the board meeting of the Reserve Bank of India, she said that deposits and lending are the two wheels of a cart and "deposit is moving slowly." The banks, she stressed, need to focus on core banking business which is mobilising deposits and lending to those who need funds.

In order to overcome the mismatch between deposits and lending, Sitharaman asked banks to come up with "innovative and attractive" deposit schemes to mobilise funds from the people.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that interest rates are deregulated and often banks raise deposit rates to attract funds.

"Banks are free to decide on interest rates", Das added.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das while unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy earlier in the week, also had expressed concern of deposit-lending mismatch in the banking sector.

He had said that banks were taking greater recourse to short-term non-retail deposits and other instruments of liability to meet the incremental credit demand.

This, he warned, "may potentially expose the banking system to structural liquidity issues. Banks may, therefore, focus more on mobilisation of household financial savings through innovative products and service offerings and by leveraging fully on their vast branch network."