Dinesh Khara Discusses Digital Lending and SBI’s YONO App at Global Fintech Fest 2024
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 29: Dinesh Kumar Khara, the recently retired Chairperson of the State Bank of India, spoke about the increasing popularity of digital lending during his special address on ‘The Evolution of Banking – Past, Present and Future’ at the Global Fintech Fest 2024.
Khara highlighted the success of SBI’s YONO app, stating, “YONO has 80 million registered users today. Almost, 10 million users log in each day. So, in many respects, it would be a record of sorts across the globe. We had envisaged YONO only as a retail solution and initially, it was thought to replace Internet banking but when we launched it, we thought that it should be much more than that. It serves all banking and financial needs today. Last year YONO generated 1.7 billion worth of loans. It has gone beyond the boundaries of various global destinations. We’re working on YONO 2.0 where it should be made more modular and faster in terms of processing.”
He also mentioned, “SBI serves 50 crore customers today, which is almost 1/3rd of the country’s population and when we serve them, we have to take care of all kinds of customers and their preferences.”
Discussing the risks in banking, Khara said, “Mistakes are committed in the good times. Risk is always to be kept in mind for a banker. People tend to ignore the risk but it shouldn’t happen. The system has strengthened in terms of infrastructure. Adequate assessment of the income flows can avoid unsecured lending.”
Khara shared a timeline of the evolution of banking, starting from the first decade of the 19th century with The Imperial Bank of India to the present-day State Bank of India.
The Global Fintech Fest 2024 features around 800 speakers, including policymakers, regulators, senior bankers, industry captains, and academicians, from India and various other countries. The conference includes more than 350 sessions over three days, with delegates from over 70 countries.
The event is presented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). It is jointly organised by the Payments Council of India (PCI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), and the Fintech Convergence Council (FCC).
Doubts Revealed
Dinesh Khara -: Dinesh Khara is a person who was the Chairperson of the State Bank of India, which is the largest bank in India.
Digital Lending -: Digital lending means giving loans to people using online platforms or apps instead of going to a bank.
SBI -: SBI stands for State Bank of India, which is the biggest bank in India.
YONO App -: YONO is an app created by SBI that lets people do banking, shopping, and other financial activities on their phones.
Global Fintech Fest 2024 -: Global Fintech Fest 2024 is a big event where people talk about new technologies in finance, like online banking and digital payments.
80 million registered users -: This means that 80 million people have signed up to use the YONO app.
$1.7 billion in loans -: This means that the YONO app helped give out loans worth $1.7 billion to people last year.
Risk Management -: Risk management in banking means making sure that the bank does not lose money by carefully checking who they give loans to and how they handle money.
19th century -: The 19th century refers to the years from 1801 to 1900, a long time ago when banking was very different from today.
