Rajeshwar Rao: Balancing innovation and prudence - AI's role in India's financial future
Keynote address by Mr Rajeshwar Rao, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, at the 3rd edition of the CNBC-TV18 Banking Transformation Summit "Banking that builds Bharat: AI-powered, credit-driven", Mumbai, 16 September 2025.
The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.
Distinguished guests, participants, ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening.
I am delighted to address this august gathering of distinguished persons, and key stakeholders across the financial spectrum in the banking transformation summit on the theme of 'Banking That Builds Bharat: AI-Powered, Credit-Driven', which is extremely contextual and relevant and encapsulates the spirit of Viksit Bharat.
Introduction
The Indian banking system has time and again exhibited its capability to embrace and adapt to newer technologies. Beginning from the early days of computerization in the 1980s, to spread of ATMs in the 1990s, the expansion of internet and mobile banking in the 2000s, interoperable infrastructure for payments, data repositories and data sharing since 2010s, the banking sector has adapted successfully to the requirements of the changing times and has over the period made banking more efficient and inclusive. Banking has now entered into a new phase of evolution driven by digital democratization. A prime example is the homegrown Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which has made India a global leader in digital payments which reinforces our belief that responsible innovation can be a powerful driver of progress.
The Government of India has articulated an ambitious vision of "Viksit Bharat" i.e., transforming India into a developed country by 2047. This sets the tone for the next step in our technological journey of financial sector and more specifically, in the banking sector. Under Viksit Bharat, the goal is for every adult to not only have a bank account, a target largely achieved under Jan Dhan Yojana, but also have access to affordable credit, insurance, and investment options. The endeavour of banking sector should be to ensure that benefits of banking, more so of credit accessibility, is made available to customers across all segments on a fair, transparent and affordable basis.