Technology is now the key enabler for Banking, making it more convenient for the common man. Indian Banks are putting in place robust IT infrastructure and are Banking on Technology to expand their reach to the underbanked and unbanked areas.

The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) plays the catalytic role in this technology transformation of the Indian Banking and Financial Sector.

A key contribution towards inspiring implementation of innovative technologies in the Indian Banking and Financial Sector and leveraging technology to reach out to the masses is the Annual IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards.

The Tenth Edition of the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards was held on 15^th of October, 2014.

Instituted in the year 2001, the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards aims to infuse a spirit of healthy competition and accelerate the process of technology implementation and innovation among various banks in the country.

These Awards are meant to act as catalysts by recognizing and rewarding the efforts of banks aimed at better use of technology, greater levels of technology absorption, and improved levels of customer service and satisfaction through innovative use of technology.

The Awards are arrived at after a careful scrutiny and evaluation of the inputs called for from all the banks on a wide range of parameters by an eminent jury. Accordingly, these awards are the best indicators of efficient and effective technology implementation and innovation in the Indian Banking and Financial Sector.

The Awards, meant to recognise and honour the best and innovative use of information technology to enhance the levels of customer service and satisfaction, were presented in the following categories:

• Use of Technology for Financial Inclusion
• Use of Technology in Social Media and Mobile Banking
• Electronic Payment Systems
• Business Intelligence Initiatives
• Managing IT Risk
• Use of IT for Business Innovation
• Best IT Team
• Best IT-enabled Co-operative Bank

A strong and heartening response was received from the banks in all the award categories, indicating an overall increase in the level of confidence and maturity in use of technology in banking.

A total of 38 banks across all sectors participated in the awards process with 182 nominations across different categories – an increase from 171 nominations last year. Banks were classified as large, medium and small, based on the deposit size.

An eminent jury consisting of the following members adjudged the banks:

• Shri K. V. Kamath, Chairman, ICICI Bank (Jury Chair)
• Prof. B. H. Jajoo, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
• Prof. G. Sivakumar, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
• Shri M. V. Tanksale, Chief Executive, Indian Banks' Association
• Shri Rajesh Doshi, Sr. Executive Director, National Securities Depository Ltd.
• Dr. Santanu Paul, CEO, TalentSprint and Distinguished Fellow, IDRBT.

The Banking Technology Excellence Awards were presented at a very special function on October 15, 2014. Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and Visitor, IDRBT was the Chief Guest on this special occasion.

Dr. A.S. Ramasastri, Director Designate, IDRBT started off the proceedings by extending a warm welcome to all the distinguished dignitaries. Speaking on the occasion, he stressed on the uniqueness of IDRBT. "IDRBT is set up by the RBI, the central bank of the country. From my interactions with various central banks and institutes of banking, I have not come across a similar institution set up by a central bank. It is one of the institution building initiatives of RBI. In 1996, RBI conceived the need for such an institution and set it up. IDRBT has been fulfilling its role in furthering research and development among banks in India.", he said.

Shri B. Sambamurthy, Director, IDRBT, in his introductory remarks focused attention on the imminent changes the Banking Sector needs to be ready to deal with. "In the next 18 months, computing power, bandwidth and connectivity would double and it would double again in another 18 months. Information volumes would also explode and how should banks proactively respond to these changes? The focus needs to be on Data Quality improvement programmes, deployment of SMAC (Social Media, Analytics, Cloud Computing) tools, and investing in building technology management capabilities and predictive analytics." Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and Visitor, IDRBT, delivered the Keynote Address and presented the awards to the Winners. In his keynote address, Dr. Rajan, made the following key points:

And the winners for the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards 2014 – 15 are:

• The contribution of IDRBT to research, training and technology service is immense
• Financial Inclusion can be achieved through 5 Ps –
  • Products that are suitable for people and shape the need of the people
  • Place: Products should be available at the right place
  • Price: Price of banking products should be low for poor people to achieve affordable excellence
  • Protection: Customer protection needs to be focussed on and customer literacy about finance should be promoted
  • Profits: To make FI profitable banks should combine Aadhaar, mobile transactions and biometrics together.
• Technocrats and regulators need to collaborate to make banking innovative to reach out to all
• Cyber Security with particular focus on banking needs to be focussed on so as to ensure that our banking system is fully secured.

And the winners for the IDRBT Banking Technology Excellence Awards 2013 – 14 are:

Award Category	Winner	Award Received by	Photos
Best Bank Award for Use of Technology for Financial Inclusion among Large Banks	State Bank of India	Shri B. Sriram, Managing Director
Best Bank Award for Use of Technology for Financial Inclusion among Mid-Size Banks	The Federal Bank Ltd.	Shri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Social Media and Mobile Banking among Large Banks	ICICI Bank	Shri Sujit Ganguli, Senior General Manager & Shri Anirudh Kamani, General Manager
Best Bank Award for Social Media and Mobile Banking among Mid-Size Banks	The Federal Bank Ltd.	Shri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Electronic Payment Systems among Large Banks	State Bank of India	Shri B. Sriram, Managing Director
Best Bank Award for Business Intelligence Initiatives among Large Banks	ICICI Bank	Shri G. Srinivas, Senior General Manager & Shri Vyom Upadhayay, Joint General Manager
Best Bank Award for Business Intelligence Initiatives among Mid-Size Banks	The Federal Bank Ltd.	Shri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Business Intelligence Initiatives among Small Banks	The Karur Vysya Bank Ltd.	Shri K. Venkataraman, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Managing IT Risk among Large Banks	Bank of Baroda	Shri P. Srinivas, Executive Director
Best Bank Award for Managing IT Risk among Mid-Size Banks	Bank of Maharashtra	Shri R. Athmaram, Executive Director
Best Bank Award for Managing IT Risk among Small Banks	IndusInd Bank Ltd.	Shri Madhavan Kandadai, Chief Technology Officer
Best Bank Award for IT for Business Innovation among Large Banks	Axis Bank Ltd.	Shri Amit Sethi, Chief Information Officer
Best Bank Award for Best IT Team among Large Banks	HDFC Bank Ltd.	Shri Anil Jaggia, Chief Information Officer
Best Bank Award for Best IT Team among Mid-Size Banks	The Federal Bank Ltd.	Shri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Best IT Team among Small Banks	South Indian Bank Ltd.	Shri V. G. Mathew, MD & CEO
Best Bank Award for Best IT-Enabled Co-operative Bank	The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd.	Shri S. Damodar, Dy. Managing Director

As with all developing economies, India's banking industry needs to balance its dual responsibilities of economic growth and social development in equal measure – a task made difficult by international pressures and internal demands. At the same time, IT functions need to strike a balance between risk and performance. The influence of a bank's IT function on its business has evolved so quickly that many of these functions are still struggling to align their technical expertise from a new business perspective.

Top IT leaders are now facing broad challenges that include – increasingly complex IT and business operating models, cost efficiency and transparency-related demands, new regulations and threats and expectations of corporate responsibility. IT plays a key role in building stakeholder confidence, achieving stakeholder confidence, bringing agility to operations, and optimizing customer reach.

This Report, which is a joint effort of IDRBT & Ernst and Young, captures the developments in Banking Technology and the visible business impact of the initiatives.

Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India & Chairman, IDRBT, released the Report on Technology in Banking at IDRBT.

Click here to download the Report on Technology in Banking.

The Awards Function was preceded by an Executive Directors' Panel Discussion. Executive Directors of various banks share their views and concerns on Integrating IT and Business Strategy. The panel included:

• Shri N. Jambunathan, DMD, State Bank of India (Chair of the Jury)
• Shri A. D. M. Chavali, ED, Indian Overseas Bank
• Shri R. Athmaram, ED, Bank of Maharashtra
• Shri K. Subramanyam, ED, Union Bank of India
• Shri P. Srinivas, ED, Bank of Baroda.

The key points emerging from the Executive Director's panel are as under:

• IT &Business should have a shared vision and the interactions between IT & business should be in a collaborative manner
• Toggling people between IT & business could help in better understanding of both the domains
• From the initiation of a new product / service of a bank, IT team should be involved
• There is a need for models and guidelines for integrating business and IT teams in banks.

Thereafter, CEOs of various banks came together for a panel discussion on Banking Opportunities and Challenges for 2020. The panel comprised of:

• Shri C.V.R. Rajendran, CMD, Andhra Bank (Chair of the Jury)
• Shri Arun Tiwari, CMD, Union Bank of India
• Shri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO, Federal Bank Ltd.
• Shri R. Bhaskaran, CEO, Indian Institute of Banking & Finance
• Shri A. P. Hota, CEO, National Payments Corporation of India.

The CEOs deliberated on the following key issues for the banking sector to move forward:

• Fragmentation of banking business into several verticals including payments, deposits, trade finance, infrastructure finance and agricultural finance
• Increase in the electronic payment transactions and the issues involved
• Crisis in HR and the ways to resolve them
• Customer expectations and need to develop innovative products and services to meet these expectations
• Harnessing the benefits of IT to reach out to the unbanked and bridge the last mile connectivity.

The top management of the Indian Banking and Financial Sector including Directors of the RBI Board, Deputy Governors, Executive Directors of Reserve Bank of India; CMDs, MD, IT Chiefs of public and private sector banks participated.