Indian banks should step up banking services in rural areas and ensure loans offered to poor people carry a lower rate of interest and longer repayment period, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said here on Thursday.
?Issues like preferential interest rates for poor and self help groups in rural areas as well as an extended loan tenure that help them stay invested should be looked into,? Patil told a gathering at Central Bank of India?s centenary year celebrations here.
The President said banks must refrain from unbridled risky ventures. With the bribes-for-loans scandal still fresh in public memory, President Pratibha Patil asked bankers to uphold the ?highest standards of probity? and follow prudential principles in lending.
?Bankers and money managers have a responsibility to follow principles of prudence and risk management,? Patil said.
Indian banks need to protect its depositors? interest and refrain from unbridled risky ventures, the president said. ?The causes, impact and lessons of global financial crisis must never be forgotten. The first priority of Indian banking system is to strengthen itself, to support a vibrant and growing economy,? Patil said.
India?s economy is expected to expand 9% this fiscal year and the growth is likely to accelerate further to 10% in 2011-12 (April-March), the President said. ?Our financial sector weathered global financial downturn rather well demonstrating its resilience and strength,? Patil said.?This fiscal year we are confident that our nation?s economy will grow at about 9% and next year we should be in the sustained growth path of 9-10%,? she said.