Ensure staff should speak the language of the customer: FM to PSBs

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the country needs big and world-class banks, and discussions are on with the Reserve Bank and lenders in this regard. Addressing the 12th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave 2025 in Mumbai, Sitharaman asked lenders to deepen and widen credit flow to the industry, exuding confidence that GST rate cut-driven demand would unleash a virtuous investment cycle. “For that, we will have to sit and talk with the Reserve Bank and with the banks themselves to see how they want to take it forward...The work has already commenced,” she added.“You need an ecosystem and an environment in which more banks can operate and grow,” Sitharaman said, emphasizing that India’s banking landscape must become more dynamic to keep pace with the rapid growth in credit demand and infrastructure financing.Sitharaman urged public sector banks to restore the “human touch” in customer service, especially by posting staff who understand local languages and communities.

I appeal to all banks to make sure that the HR policies are such that you're not recruiting just for the sake of numbers but recruiting to ensure that every staff member posted at a branch understands his/her customer and speaks the local language.

I would also strongly push for… pic.twitter.com/oqkzDzYnR3

— Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) November 6, 2025

Citing complaints from small borrowers, she added that excessive paperwork and outsourced credit ratings were hurting access to credit. “You can’t be putting the onus on the borrower to go on proving and providing documents till death comes,” she said. Sitharaman urged banks to simplify processes and make credit decisions more locally informed. “Credit rating of a customer, particularly MSME, will have to be your own,” she said.