Corporate Banking in India : Introduction
“When it comes to Corporate banking in India , Its very traditional in nature. The dependency on Physical Applications , manual transaction in many cases is still prevalent.”
The Internet banking has eased lives of many users and the simple bank processes like Fund transfer , Bank requests placement (chequebook, debit card, Bank statements) , Deposit creation, Salary payments, Corporate statutory payments and Remittances have become easier to handle.
Still there are lots of processes for which assistance is required and thus the concept of “RELATIONSHIP MANAGER” is prevalent in India. I have been a Corporate Relationship Manager for last 8 years handling Business Banking for Multinational Companies, Large Corporates ,Small and Medium Enterprises and Startup’s .
The core banking system used by majority of Indian Banks is FINACLE which is a very powerful banking software.
But the processes and compliances at bank level is still confusing and sometimes not properly laid down.
Recent Changes in the Indian Banking System :
I can write a lot on the changes in Indian Banking system as i have witnessed the biggest Financial changes in India in the recent past. In 2016 I have seen Demonitization where overnight the biggest denomination of Indian Currency notes (500’s and 1000’s) were scrapped to be replaced by new notes . This led to a prolonged unavailability of cash. Indian market in the 2016’s was highly cash driven and it was a major news which impacted people and businesses for months. ‘Working at a Bank I was directly impacted by the news as many processes within the banks were changed with immediate effect . I saw customers struggle to get notes exchanged, lots of ruckus at branches. At that time i was handling foreign trade for a Bank branch which was in a very crowdy area and so lots of crowd gathered everyday for cash. We worked even on all Saturdays and Sundays as well’.
I saw change in the taxation system in India in the form of GOODS and Service tax in 2017 . At that time the concept was very new and not much of understanding was there even among the experts. ‘As a foreign trade expert i regularly interact with Chartered Accounts in India’. It was a tough task for us to understand the overall framework and guide the clients accordingly.
COVID times were by far the biggest challenge for our working. ‘As a Relationship Manager my work is to meet with customers , understand their banking requirement and propose a solution’. In COVID times Banking services were under essential services in India and we had to work in shifts. We were unknown to video calls and taking requests/proposing solutions online. Banks devised frameworks to adapt to the new normal. Even my suggestions were taken into consideration. So we learnt a lot in the COVID times . The Government praised all healthcare and ground forces for extending their services in the COVID times. We too take pride in being of small help to our customers.
UPI- Unified Payment Interface
By far the biggest revolution in Indian Payments system is the UPI- Unified Payment Interface. Developed by the NPCI- National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) an initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 . Its a peer to peer collection technology where you can link your mobile number to your account through the many apps available which use the UPI system. The mobile number acts as your source for receipt and payment of money digitally. You can create a virtual id as well like abc123@upi to facilitate the transaction.
This has served as one of the building blocks in the Indian Economy towards the aim of making India a cashless economy under the Digital India initiative by the Government.
Banking In Post COVID Era:
COVID has given boost to the digitization of many banking processes as well as inception of many fintech’s in similar line of work. One of the prominent Indian Banks which ranks in the TOP 5 Indian Private Banks did not have a trade portal back in 2020 while most of its competition had. Once it witnessed COVID and understood the immediate need of the trade portal it accelerated its development works and within months deployed one of the most powerful online trade portal linked to its internet Banking.
Many Fintechs in the digital wallet space saw an up rise with the Demonetization in place . One of my friends working in a prominent startup in the field quoted that before demonetization there were hardly any request for their wallet and QR code scanners as means of payment mode , but after COVID they were loaded with such requests and they had to multiply their workforce and Increase Support multifold.
The Inception of Easy Banking India:
Hello and Namaste to all Readers!
This is Vishal Mahto and am a Banking Professional with over 8 years of work experience in India.
I specialize in Foreign trade , Transaction Banking, Startup banking and Business banking at large.
This is an effort to ease the Banking processes in India for Corporates across globe .
The main aim of writing this article is spread awareness and to easily define some of the banking processes in India . As by experience i have knowledge and understanding of Foreign trade( Inward remittance, Outward remittance, Foreign Direct Investment, Bank Guarantees, Letter of Credits , Bill Discounting , External Commercial Borrowing, Foreign currency Loans ) Business Banking ( Current Account, Domestic Transactions, Deposits, Tax payments, Startup Banking) and Cash management Services.
I will explore the major topics with practical examples in my career and approach will be to provide a learning for new readers. As i understand my audience will be niche as someone who’s interested in Business in India or handling finance and treasury of a company will be my target audience . Yes I work at an MNC bank in India and if any queries that can be taken directly , i will be more than happy to help. Please extend your support to my initiative .
Vishal Mahto
Email id: EASYBANKING.IND@GMAIL.COM