Tag: Ashwini Kumar Tewari

Financial sector faces challenges amidst rising data concerns and fraud risks: SBI MD

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SBI MD says growth of Jan Dhan accounts synonymous with India’s financial inclusion

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Managing Director of SBI, said the financial inclusion journey of India has been synonymous with the growth of the Jan Dhan accounts. “The financial inclusion journey in our country has been synonymous with the growth of the Jan Dhan accounts and these are essentially saving accounts.”

“There is some penetration there. But what is more important is that these accounts were zero balance accounts. But as they grew in balances, they became eligible for a lot of other lending services. Later, mudra schemes have pushed those accounts.”

Ratan Kesh, Executive Director of Bandhan Bank, reiterated Tewari’s point on Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).

 “I think as a country, financial inclusion has broadly been solved with PMJDY and a whole bunch of things. It’s not about financial inclusion anymore. I think it’s more about financial empowerment.”

PMJDY has crossed several significant milestones this year. In a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad said the number of bank accounts under the nine-year-old scheme has crossed the 500-million mark with total deposits exceeding ₹2 trillion.

Said to be one of the pet projects of PM Modi, PMJDY was launched as the National Mission for Financial Inclusion on August 28, 2014. It aims to ensure financial inclusion through universal access to banking facilities.

The minister did add that 43 million PMJDY accounts have zero balance as on November 22, 2023.

However, speaking at the 20th Global Inclusive Finance Summit, Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi flagged lower participation by private sector banks in the government’s financial inclusion drive.

He asked banks and financial institutions to work on three areas — getting KYC done for inoperative accounts, nomination for bank accounts and strengthening cybersecurity.

On the question of UPI credit, Shalini Warrier, Executive Director of Federal Bank, said it is still very nascent with only few banks launching this scheme.

“That is the real core problem that all of us face. I think credit on UPI can help us because we can use a lot of the analytics that we do currently and superimpose it on savings account behaviour, superimpose it on cash on delivery behaviour to see how that is being enabled to get more understanding of the individual concern,” she said.

Also Read:India’s e-retail market seen topping $160 billion by 2028: Report

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

State Bank of India MD sees Rs 30 lakh crore opportunity in climate finance by 2030

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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State Bank of India Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Tewari highlighted the significant opportunities that climate finance holds for the banking sector at the CNBC-TV18 PWC Banking Dialogues on Thursday, June 8. Tewari urged banks to give utmost importance to sustainability and climate risks, aspects that have been largely neglected within the Indian banking industry until now.

Looking ahead, Tewari outlined significant opportunities in the field of climate finance. With India’s ambitious targets set for 2017 and 2030, the interim opportunity till 2030 alone amounts to approximately Rs 30 lakh crore.

“Going forward, there are big opportunities. One opportunity is climate finance itself. Now with the targets which India has taken till 2017 and 2030, the interim targets, the opportunity till 2030 itself is around (Rs) 30 lakh crore,” he said.

Comparatively, the domestic loan book of State Bank of India currently stands at around Rs 28 lakh crore.

During the meeting, which brought together both public and private sector representatives, he specifically highlighted sustainability and climate risk as crucial focal points, alongside other separate topics such as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations.

Tewari emphasised that if the entire opportunity is captured, the bank’s loan book could potentially double. However, he acknowledged that achieving this goal would require collaborative efforts from multiple banks.

“…We can double that loan book if we capture the entire opportunity.”

Tewari identified a diverse range of sectors that contribute to climate finance, including electric vehicles (EVs), battery technologies, renewable energy, battery manufacturing, hydroelectric power, and more.

“Of course, we alone won’t do it. So that’s one big piece which we have to look at, and it consists of myriad of things … like things from EVs, the battery, the switching, the swapping technologies. Renewable, of course continues to be a strong play. Then going forward to the battery manufacturing, the pump, hydro, all kinds of things.”

He emphasised the need for banks to swiftly leverage these opportunities, as they align with national contributions and commitments aimed at addressing climate change and safeguarding the planet.

“So I think that’s one very, very big opportunity which all banks have in which we should start to leverage very quickly because this is part of our national contributions and national commitments and we actually need to do it for the planet itself. “

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SBI Card MD and CEO Tewari resigns; appointed as SBI MD

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SBI Card on Wednesday said its Managing Director and CEO Ashwini Kumar Tewari has resigned pursuant to his appointment as MD of State Bank of India. “We wish to inform that Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Managing Director & CEO (nominated by State Bank of India) of the company has tendered his resignation from directorship of the company with effect from the close of business hours of January 27, 2020,” SBI Card said in a regulatory filing.

The resignation is owing to his appointment as managing director of State Bank of India (SBI), it said. “He will also cease to be the MD&CEO of the company from the said date,” said the pure-play card company promoted by the country’s largest lender SBI.

Further, pursuant to norms to prohibit insider trading and consequent to Tewari’s resignation, the company’s trading window for dealing in securities will remain closed from the close of business hours on Wednesday and will end 48 hours after the conclusion of the board meeting in which the said vacancy will be filled and consequent disclosure will be made to the stock exchanges. Tewari took over as SBI Card managing director and chief executive officer on August 1, 2020.

Prior to taking charge at SBI Card, since April 2017, Tewari held the position of country head of US operations at SBI, based in New York. He also served as vice chairman of the SBI (California) board of directors.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Growth picking up strongly; huge potential for us to expand market, says SBI Card

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Growth is picking up very strongly for SBI Cards, said Ashwini Kumar Tewari, MD and CEO of the company, after the recently-released Q2 numbers reflected a poor performance due to a sharp deterioration in asset quality and elevated provisions.

“We are pretty much back to where we were pre-COVID. The credit card industry itself in India is very underpenetrated. Therefore, there is a huge potential for us to expand the market. We are doing that, we will continue to work with a lot of our partners,” said Tewari in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

The historical non-performing assets (NPAs) have been in the range of 2.5-2.7 percent over the last three years, he added.

Speaking about the moratorium scenario, Tewari said, “Many of the customers came out of moratorium earlier than the rest of the industry. As the moratorium ended, the standstill came in. So, the Q2 results may or may not show the full picture of how things stand. The numbers look very large compared to what the June numbers were.”

He believes, people are very cognisant of their credit scores. “People are not willing to settle, they don’t want to spoil their credit history. Therefore, we have to be mindful of this fact that people want to retain the credit history and therefore we need to work with them, go for the long haul and work with them to make sure that they emerge on the other side stronger,” he said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Ashwini Tewari takes charge as SBI Card MD & CEO

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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SBI Card, the country’s second largest credit card issuer, on Tuesday said Ashwini Kumar Tewari has taken over as its new managing director and chief executive officer, effective August 1.

Tewari has taken over the charge from Hardayal Prasad who retired on July 31, 2020, SBI Cards & Payment Services (SBI Card) said in a release.

“He has demonstrated authentic, adept leadership in diverse positions both in India and abroad, during a successful career. We are confident that he will be able to further strengthen SBI Card’s market share and propel the business to new milestones,” SBI’s managing director (GB&S) Dinesh Khara said.

Prior to taking charge at SBI Card, since April 2017, Tewari held the position of country head of US Operations at State Bank of India (SBI), based in New York. He also served as vice chairman of the SBI (California) board of directors.

“My immediate goal is to ensure sustained business performance as seen in the last two quarters, despite the challenging environment. In the long run, my endeavour would be to enable SBI Card to scale new heights along with the robust management team that has been driving the growth of this exceptional company,” Tewari said.

He started his banking career with SBI in 1991 as a probationary officer.

He has experience in diverse leadership roles, extending across significant business functions like credit, international and retail banking including business process re-engineering.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow