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Mr. Ajay Srinivasan

Mr. Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive, Financial Services of Aditya Birla Group spoke on the following key topics
    i) Structural & regulatory bottlenecks in domestic equity participation.
India's households are the highest savers in the world, amounting to 70% of total national savings. But, less than 50% of these savings are accessible. Strong preference is given for bank deposits & insurance in the Indian market which amount to 60% of the national household savings. Due to preference for bank deposits & insurance, a large portion of household financial assets in India today is not in equities.
  • Areas of focus for enhancing retail participation beyond top 10 cities:
  • Reduce complexity & cost of account opening.
  • Enhance investor education & awareness in semi-urban centers.
  • Encourage indirect investor participation through mutual funds & long-term pension products.
    ii) A nascent & underpenetrated bond market
Development of a vibrant corporate bond market is critical to meet the economic aspirations of the country. Corporate bond market penetration in India is low as compared to international benchmarks. Corporate bond issuance volumes in India are low.
Development of a vibrant corporate bond markets is critical to meet on economic aspiration
  • To meet the infrastructure financing requirements of India.
  • To provide and an alternate funding source for NBFC's.
  • To help in diversification of risks. 

iii) Capital gap in the banking sector to fund its balance sheet growth.
    Given expected GDP growth, banking sector will grow to around US $7 to $10 trillion in next 5 years. Banking sector has shown strong worth in last 9 years. India's level of banking intermediation remains low relative to other markets. Foreign capital can be brought for growth of banking & finance sector.

iv) Dramatic increase in infrastructure spending forecast.
    Private sector investment infrastructure is expected to rise by more than 3 times.Infrastructure finance is expected to be Rs 187000 crores revenue in the next 7 years.Private sector investment in infrastructure is expected to rise by more than 5 times in the next 12 years.

v) Increasing globalization of Indian corporate are opening up several opportunities for Indian service players.
Opportunities include:
  • Trade finance.
  • Mergers & Acquisitions and acquisition finance.
  • India remittance & wealth opportunity for overseas Indian employees of corporate.
There are 26 million NR's worldwide owing financial assets worth US $500 billion which provide ample opportunities.

vi) Rising rural affluence and favorable government actions are creating an attractive rural financial services opportunity.
  • Rural financial services is a large & attractive opportunity.
  • Leverage technology.
  • Only 34% of rural households have access to found savings accounts.
vii) Addressing human capital challenges in the financial sector.
  • There is a need to recruit an additional 7 lakh people in state owned banks.
viii) In view of future role requirements, several skills gaps exist among current employers.

ix) The banking sector will need to groom 12,000 to 15,000 leaders to build a string leadership Bench strength.

x) Improving financial literacy for more efficient allocation of household assets.

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