in today ’ s world of banking. retail banking in india retail banking in india is not a new phenomenon. it has always been prevalent in india in various forms. for the last few years it has become synonymous with mainstream banking for many banks. the typical products offered in the indian retail banking segment are housing loans, consumption loans for purchase of durables, auto loans, credit cards and educational loans. the loans are marketed under attractive brand names to differentiate the products offered by different banks. as the report on trend and progress of india, 2003 - 04 has shown that the loan values of these retail lending typically range between rs. 20, 000 to rs. 100 lakh. the loans are generally for duration of five to seven years with housing loans granted for a longer duration of 15 years. credit card is another rapidly growing sub - segment of this product group. in recent past retail lending has turned out to be a key profit driver for banks with retail portfolio constituting 21. 5 per cent of total outstanding advances as on march 2004. the overall impairment of the retail loan portfolio worked out much less then the gross npa ratio for the entire loan portfolio. divanna, joseph a. ( 2004 ) : the future of retail banking, new york : palgrave macmillan. within the retail segment, the housing loans had the least gross asset impairment. in fact, retailing make ample business sense in the banking sector. while new generation private sector banks have been able to create a niche in this regard, the public sector banks have not lagged behind. leveraging their vast branch network and outreach, public sector banks have aggressively forayed to garner a larger slice of the retail pie. by international standards, however, there is still much scope for retail banking in india. after all, retail loans constitute less than seven per cent of gdp in india vis - a - vis about 35 per cent for other asian economies - south korea ( 55 per cent ), taiwan ( 52 per cent ), malaysia ( 33 per cent ) and thailand ( 18 per cent ). as retail banking in india is still growing from modest base, there is a likelihood that the growth numbers seem to get somewhat exaggerated. one, thus, has to exercise caution is interpreting the growth of retail banking in india. drivers of retail business in india what has contributed to this retail growth? let me briefly highlight some of the basic reasons. first, economic prosperity and the consequent increase in purchasing power has given a fillip to a

sarah bloom raskin : downturns and recoveries – what the economies in los angeles and the united states tell us speech by ms sarah bloom raskin, member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system, at the federal reserve bank of sand francisco business and community leaders luncheon, los angeles, california, 12 april 2012. * * * good afternoon. i appreciate this opportunity to speak with you today. i ’ m not sure when you last found yourself in a planetarium. at the start of my most recent visit, i was handed a brochure that said “ sit anywhere. all seats provide equal viewing of the universe. ” i took the brochure but instead of contemplating the stars, i contemplated my job as a governor on the federal reserve board. and it occurred to me that the brochure was wrong. completely wrong. all seats do not provide equal viewing of the universe. some seats are better than others. it ’ s not just that the big dipper is clearer than ursa minor from certain seats. if you want, for example, to see the economy, you don ’ t necessarily want to always be sitting in washington. that is not a seat that tells you everything you need to know about the economy. you have to break out, set free, and hightail it out of the beltway to los angeles. it ’ s critical to appropriate policymaking that we get a multidimensional view of the so - called economic universe. from that perspective, it is an understatement to say that these are profoundly challenging times for millions of americans. many families have suffered significant declines in their net worth over the past several years, especially as the value of their homes and other assets has plummeted. many households have faced job losses or large reductions in the number of hours worked, events that have reduced family income and well - being. while i ’ m not happy to bear witness to households trying to navigate these difficulties, we would be poor policymakers if we consistently avoided the seats that give us this view. in short, i ’ m very pleased to be here, but i ’ m here on a mission. it ’ s a quest to understand what the seat from los angeles tells us about the economy, and more generally, how the path of the economy in a recovery may depend on the path of the economy in a recession. to rewind and review : the u. s. economy recently endured a financial crisis rival