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`Banks under more pressure to adopt technology faster'

Our Bureau

BANGALORE, July 16

THE Prime Minister's statement that banks need to chalk out a time-bound computerisation and networking programme has put some more pressure on public sector bank for adopting technology, according to Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, member, Planning Commissi on.

Delivering the valedictory address at BancIT, the annual seminar on banking and technology organised by Infosys Technologies, Mr. Ahluwalia said it was neither unionism nor the lack of funds that was hampering the process, but work culture in public bank s. Bank managers needed to be more proactive in convincing their staff to adopt technology, he said.

Banks were already under pressure to go in for computerisation and offer Internet banking. For one, they were losing their monopoly as lending agents with the competition from insurance, mutual funds and capital markets. Besides, there was competition fr om foreign and private sector banks and the growth of e-commerce in the country was demanding different banking products and services.

The banking services offered by PSBs were highly unsatisfactory given that the country was globalising and integrating with the international economy, said Dr.Ahluwalia

The PSBs were in for tough times as they battled with the private sector for the cream of the customers (who are the most profitable), while also retaining their `social obligation' focus.

He said once the regulatory mechanism was in place and the IT bill came through, e-commerce would definitely grow faster. In five to ten years' time, the Internet would be even more accessible, not necessarily through PCs, but maybe on mobile phones, and TVs with set top boxes, he added

Verifying E-signatures

A COMMITTEE has been set up to work out details on verification of electronic signatures, said Dr. Ahluwalia. With the IT Bill giving recognition to electronic signatures, there need to be certifying agencies who would do that. Once the rules were drawn up, B2B business and e-commerce would get a boost.

E-Commerce transactions were still in their infancy as the banks were not sufficiently networked.

The RBI is setting up a payment gateway systems in Hyderabad to link up 100 cities in the next twelve months. Four cities are already connected, but because of the insufficient transponder capacity, it is not yet fully operational.