in nature. statistics of training practices and philosophies across a cross section of banks in india support my conclusions. i am glad to note that most institutions do follow a regimen of “ training needs analysis ”, to ascertain the specific training need and addressing that need precisely, taking care to cover as many employees as possible. on an average, 60 – 65 % of the employees are invariably covered every year under some or the other training programme, though there are also banks that post an achievement rate as high as 85 – 90 %. on the other side of the spectrum are a few banks which have been able to train not more than 37 – 40 % of their workforce in a given year. it is particularly heartening to note that training initiatives are not just confined to officer / executive staff alone but encompass all employees. there does exist an active process of delineating programmes and categorizing them as induction ( on - boarding of employees ), behavioural, functional and leadership training, which leads one to believe that banks are fully alive to the necessity of a multi - dimensional approach to training. there is a profound emphasis on development of “ soft skills ” amongst development of other skill sets. further, a follow - up to class room teaching or coaching by way of “ on the job ” training has been considered to be the most appropriate form of training by most trainers in banks. the bis central bankers ’ speeches effort to build skills on the job and the ability to apply them to practical situations is seen to be a prime training need. agreeably and also predictably, most banks have identified training gaps in the areas of credit management, risk management, agriculture programmes, marketing, and foreign exchange. these areas require an equal measure of knowledge of rules, practices and specialized skills for appraisal on one hand and an awareness of markets on the other. these are also some areas where banks have felt a dire need for training by external experts and institutions. an interesting yet compelling train of thought in banks also has “ employee superannuation trends ” as its focus with an objective to prepare more leaders in banks to take up challenges in the coming years, especially through such aspects as “ mentoring ”. elearning portals as means to top up training facilities internally has found wider currency in the training curriculum of banks. certain interesting concepts in training have also emerged in recent times as revealed by such interesting themes as “ selling skills ”, “ alternate delivery channels ”, “ product knowledge ”,

of differentiated banks catering to the unique needs of varied population groups was a step in that direction. in the recent past, the challenges that have engaged our attention are ( i ) how to identify the these parameters include the number of outlets ( branches and bcs ), basic savings bank deposit accounts ( bsbdas ), overdraft facilities availed in these accounts, transactions in kisan credit cards ( kccs ) and general credit cards ( gccs ) and transactions through the business correspondents – information and communication technology ( bc - ict ) channel. customer ; ( ii ) how to reach the last mile ; and ( iii ) how to provide relevant products which are affordable and safe catering to diverse needs. 8. the digital id ( aadhaar ) along with the proliferation of mobile phones with world class payment systems have addressed the first two challenges of access and usage to a large extent. the third challenge i. e. quality requires both demand and supply side interventions. opening of pradhan mantri jan - dhan yojana ( pmjdy ) accounts has enabled millions of indians to have access to financial services, with a basic bouquet of financial products. this has addressed the supply side issue to a considerable extent. the demand side interventions focused on creating awareness amongst the public. financial literacy, customer protection and grievance redressal have become areas of focus for furthering sustainable financial inclusion. setting up of national centre for financial education ( ncfe ) by the regulators and implementation of the centre for financial literacy ( cfl ) project of rbi are two recent initiatives towards improving financial literacy. 9. payment systems are seen to be lifeline of an economy. they are increasingly being recognised as a means of achieving financial inclusion and ensuring that economic benefits reach the bottom of the pyramid. it is quite well known by now that india is among the leaders in the world with regard to development of state - of - the - art payment infrastructure and products leading to a wider adoption of digital payments. to give an example, the number of prepaid payment instruments ( ppi ) 4 increased at a compounded annual growth rate ( cagr ) of 53 per cent from 41 crore in may 2017 to 226 crore in may 2021. the trends indicate that such as at may 2021, 91 % of ppis was in the form of wallets and the rest in the form of cards. instruments have become immensely popular for making small value payments. 10. the movement towards digital payments has also been facilitated by