Das flags priorities for banks to sustain growth

Mumbai: India’s 8% growth target is within reach, but sustaining that pace will require banks and financial institutions to finance infrastructure, advanced manufacturing and smaller businesses while expanding insurance and pension coverage, former RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday.He called for deeper credit and bond markets and a shift in household savings from physical assets to productive financial investments to support India’s ambition of becoming a developed economy by 2047.“In fact, in the recent months, I have stated on record that India is in a striking distance of 8% growth,” Das said in his keynote address at the Business Standard BFSI Summit 2026 here. He attributed the momentum to “the triple engines of macroeconomic stability; continuing structural reforms; and strategic policy initiatives to develop domestic capacity where we are largely import dependent”.Sustaining growth would be harder amid geopolitical conflicts, trade barriers, sanctions, unilateral tariffs and supply chain disruptions. Unlike earlier shocks, these disruptions had become prolonged, threatening energy and commodity markets, economic activity and financial stability. Das cautioned that consumption-related household borrowing required “careful and consistent monitoring”, signalling the need for continued scrutiny even as aggregate indicators improved.He identified stronger bank balance sheets as a key improvement, with lenders moving beyond high bad loans and weak capital adequacy to become well-capitalised and profitable.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.