The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCC&I) organized its annual flagship “Financial Market Conclave” on 18th September, 2024 at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai. The theme of the Conclave was “Indian Financial Markets: Partnering Growth, Empowering Masses, Connecting India”. 

The Indian banking industry has recently witnessed the rollout of innovative banking models like payments and small finance banks. Major banking sector reforms like digital payments, neo-banking, rise of Indian NBFCs and fintech have significantly enhanced India’s financial inclusion and helped fuel the credit cycle in the country. BFSI is playing the role of a partner in growing the business and technology is playing a crucial role as a catalyst. Enhanced spending on infrastructure, speedy implementation of projects and continuation of reforms are expected to provide further impetus to growth in the banking sector. India’s Mutual Fund industry has experienced immense growth. India’s Insurance industry is one of the premium sectors experiencing upward growth. This upward growth of the insurance industry can be attributed to growing incomes and increasing awareness in the industry. In this background, the Conclave was organized and discussions were structured into the Opening Session for focusing on the Banking and Finance sectors, and Experts’ Roundtable Sessions with focus primarily on the Capital market, Insurance Market and other related industry issues.

The Conclave had Experts Roundtable on “Indian Financial Markets: Partnering Growth, Empowering Masses, Connecting India”, Fireside Chat Session with Mr. C. S. Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India, Experts’ Roundtable on “Indian Insurance: Of the People, For the People, By the People”, Experts’ Roundtable on “Indian Capital Market: Balancing the Compounding Magic and Risk Appetite”, Discussion on "Risk and fraud prevention in the financial services value chain and Session on “Modernization of Investment Business: What Consumers need to Know”.

Mr. C. S. Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India was the Guest of Honour. Other eminent speakers were Mr. Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities Limited, Mr. Venkat Chalasani, CEO, AMFI, Mr. Shachindra Nath, Founder & MD, U GRO Capital, Mr. Parthanil Ghosh, Director and Chief Business Officer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Co. Ltd., Ms. Arti Bhushan Mulik, Chief Technical Officer, Universal Sompo General Insurance, Mr. Sunder Krishnan, Chief Risk Officer, The Life Insurance Corporation of India, Mr. Manish Alagh, Sr Executive Vice President, Head - Tied, Wealth, Insurance Manager & Direct Marketing Channels, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Ltd., Mr. Amit Gupta, President & National Head – Wholesale Business, SBI Mutual Fund, Mr. Sandeep Chhabria, Lead - Passive Business, HDFC Mutual Fund, Mr. Abhijit Shah, Head, Marketing, Digital and Customer Experience, ICICI Prudential AMC, Mr. Rufar Rub, Director, FS Consulting, PwC, Mr. Anil Tadimeti, Director, Strategy, Bureau, Inc. and many more.

In a Fireside Chat with Mr. Tamal Bandyopadhyay, Eminent Journalist and Writer, and Mentor, Finance and Banking National Committee, BCC&I, Mr. C. S. Setty, Chairman, State Bank of India emphasized the need to strengthen the corporate bond market, addressing concerns about the slowdown in unsecured loans and the importance of maintaining a healthy CASA ratio. 

With banks struggling to mobilise deposits, financial services players such as mutual funds, pension funds and insurance companies should participate in corporate financing. He said that one of the major pain points in overall corporate lending has been that it was mainly done by banks. The corporate bond market still has to get strengthened. The pre-Covid-level CASA ratios were at 40%, it rose to 45% after Covid. It is going back to 40% and may further go down if the efficient cash management by the government comes into picture. 

Mr. Setty also mentioned that banks are now more comfortable lending to the MSME sector due to formalisation of the segment and more data points becoming accessible. He said that while there is no denying that small-value retail loans are under some stress, the situation is not so severe or widespread that it poses a systemic risk. Mr. Setty pointed out that most of these delinquencies stem from "new-to-credit" customers. To address the problem, Mr. Setty advocated for more focused, data-driven lending as Data-based lending will be much more robust and more frequent updates of bureau data would definitely help moderate the risks. 

Turning to the broader issue of financing a fast-growing economy, Mr. Setty noted that while banking serves as a proxy for the real economy, it can’t meet all the financial needs of the country.