Over the last few years, various committees, working groups and discussion papers have emphasized the need to reform the structure of the banking sector as it exists today. On taking over as the Governor of RBI, Dr. Raghuram Rajan had emphasized on strengthening banking structure as one of the five pillars of RBI's financial sector policies and developmental measures. In 2009, the Report of the Committee on Financial Sector Reforms stressed the need for well-governed deposit-taking small finance banks. A discussion paper by RBI on Banking Structures in India laid out the importance of the banking structure being flexible and competitive in order to serve the growing real economy, and to facilitate penetration and depth. It also laid significance to the fact that the world over banking structures are being revisited to incorporate the learnings from the global crisis.

The recent Nachiket Mor Committee Report on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income Households too proposes a framework for Banking Systems design in order to improve financial inclusion.

In the context of the above, CAFRAL is organising this conference to bring together various stakeholders to deliberate on the need for and the implications of the various emerging and potential bank structures.