s s mundra : research imperatives for the indian banking sector inaugural address by mr s s mundra, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the 1st banking research conference, organized by gokhale institute of politics and economics and ibs ( icfai business school ) in collaboration with ibs hyderabad, hyderabad, 29 january 2016. * * * assistance provided by smt. rekha misra, shri sanjeev prakash, shri radheshyam verma and ms. anwesha das is gratefully acknowledged. introduction 1. dr. j. mahender reddy, vice chancellor, icfai foundation for higher education ( ifhe ) university ; shri s. v. seshaiah, director, ibs, hyderabad ; members of faculty from gokhale institute of politics and economics, pune and ibs, hyderabad ; delegates of the research conference ; ladies and gentlemen! i am grateful to gokhale institute of politics and economics, pune and ibs, hyderabad for inviting me to deliver the inaugural address at the 1st banking research conference this morning. both are premier educational institutions of the country. ibs hyderabad has made important contribution in the field of management education and research in a very short period of time. gokhale institute of politics and economics ( gipe ), pune, is one of the oldest research and training institutes in economics in the country and continues to be an institute of repute for economic research. i complement their efforts towards education and research. 2. banks are the bedrock of financial system in all emerging economies and india is no different. the banks in india have been quite effectively performing the vital function of financial intermediation. the health of the banking system and that of the economy share a symbiotic relationship and at this juncture when the global growth is still stuttering, the banking system also faces a multitude of challenges. each of these challenges has different genesis and probably different solution. but, challenges also throw up opportunities. in order to overcome current and impending challenges and also to exploit emerging opportunities, it is imperative that the sector devotes adequate time and resources in conducting meaningful research. at this stage, when the banking sector is on proverbial “ crossroads ”, i feel this banking research conference is very timely. i am sure that the deliberations in the conference would provide new insights into the issues facing the banks and also pave the way for further research which would generate fresh ideas for improving the efficiency

incentives. protocols and best practices for such eias may have to be drawn up taking into account the work done in the area of ascribing monetary values to the costs of threats to ecosystem and biodiversity and the benefits from such ecosystem services and biodiversity. i would like to take this opportunity to draw attention to hon ’ ble union finance minister ’ s budget speech for 2010 – 11, in which he announced a number of measures for addressing environment / climate change issues and preserving biodiversity. i am sure all concerned will take advantage of these announcements, actively support and involve in the initiatives for protecting ecosystems and preserving biodiversity. finally, i would like to close with a quote from the speech that hon ’ ble prime minister dr. manmohan singh delivered on june 30, 2008 while formally launching india ’ s national action plan on climate change : “ india has a civilizational legacy which treats nature as a source of nurture and not as a dark force to be conquered and harnessed to human endeavour. there is a high value placed in our culture to the concept of living in harmony with nature, recognizing the delicate threads of common destiny that hold our universe together. the time has come for us to draw deep from this tradition and launch india and its billion people on a path of ecologically sustainable development ”. it gives me great pleasure to inaugurate this teeb d2 workshop and wish it all success. thank you.