Leading Today, Building for Tomorrow - Special address by Shri Swaminathan J, Deputy Governor at the Leadership Conference of Indian Bank in Chennai on October 23, 2026 -

The central message is that banking leadership is measured not only by current results. Leaders must also leave behind stronger technology, people, processes and institutions. These investments may take years to produce their full benefits, sometimes after the leader’s tenure has ended.

Indian Bank’s history makes this point concrete. Its turnaround under Smt. Ranjana Kumar in the early 2000s involved financial restructuring, rebuilding confidence, improving organisational processes and mobilising employees. The benefits continued beyond the leaders who began the transformation.

This message matters more as technology, customer expectations, financial intermediation and global connections change quickly. Bank leaders must meet present responsibilities while preparing their institutions for future uncertainty. Their choices should strengthen strategy, culture, capabilities and customer confidence for successive generations of bankers.

Building institutional capabilities means strengthening the systems and skills that allow a bank to perform well beyond one leader’s term. It includes investing in technology, developing people, improving processes, managing risks and setting a clear direction. The aim is continuity, not dependence on an individual.

Indian Bank’s early-2000s turnaround shows how this works. Smt. Ranjana Kumar’s leadership involved more than financial restructuring. It rebuilt confidence, strengthened organisational processes and mobilised employees. Those improvements created benefits that extended beyond the leadership that initiated them.

This approach is vital because banking conditions change quickly. Technology, customer expectations, financial markets and financial intermediation are evolving. Durable capabilities help future leaders respond without starting from zero. They also support customer confidence and allow successive generations of bankers to build on earlier foundations.

Indian Bank has existed since 15 August 1907, when it commenced business during the Swadeshi movement. The date was exactly forty years before India attained independence. This gives the institution a history stretching across more than a century of Indian economic and banking change.

The Bank began with those national-era origins and later grew into a major public sector bank. Its institutional legacy also includes the long banking tradition of the erstwhile Allahabad Bank. The article presents this growth as a story of continuity across generations of bankers and leaders.

That long history explains why present decisions matter beyond one tenure. Strategy, culture and capabilities accumulate over time. Today’s leaders inherit earlier contributions and must leave the institution stronger and better prepared for technological change, evolving financial intermediation and increasingly connected economies.

Technology is changing how banks deliver services and what customers expect. Digital payments, artificial intelligence and data analytics are making convenience, seamless service and on-demand access increasingly important. Banks must use technology to improve customer experience, operational efficiency and competitiveness.

Competition and cooperation are also expanding beyond traditional banks. Fintech companies, technology platforms and other financial institutions form a wider financial ecosystem. At the same time, household savings preferences and greater product choice affect deposit mobilisation. Banks must therefore reassess business models, customer relationships and their deposit franchise.

Global links add another layer of change. Geopolitical developments, international trade and investment shifts, and global financial conditions can influence domestic activity through multiple channels. Leaders must respond to present changes while building capabilities that can manage faster, interconnected and less predictable developments.

When digital payments, artificial intelligence and data analytics change delivery, customers begin to expect faster, easier and more continuous service. Their experiences with digital platforms in other sectors shape these expectations. Banking becomes less tied to traditional service patterns and more focused on convenience and seamless access.

For banks, the mechanism is not technology alone. Digital tools can improve customer experience, operational efficiency and institutional competitiveness when they are applied effectively. Data analytics and artificial intelligence can support new ways of delivering services, while digital payments change how customers access and use financial services.

The current challenge is to harness these tools rather than merely adopt them. Banks must connect technology investment with customer needs and institutional strength. Leaders who build these capabilities can respond to changing expectations; those who fail to do so may find their business models and competitiveness under pressure.

Banks now operate alongside fintech companies, technology platforms and other financial institutions. This changes competition because customers can encounter more providers and more ways to access financial products. It also creates opportunities for cooperation, shared innovation and wider service delivery.

The key mechanism is strategic adaptation. Banks can collaborate across the financial ecosystem while improving their own technology and customer relationships. They should examine how they serve customers, how their business models work and how strongly they mobilise deposits. Greater choice among financial products makes the deposit franchise especially important.

The article presents this as an ongoing leadership task, not a one-time response. Banks must combine innovation with institutional capability and customer confidence. Those that learn to compete and collaborate can remain relevant as financial intermediation evolves and expectations continue to change.

Banks perform four enduring responsibilities: they mobilise savings, allocate credit prudently, manage risks effectively and retain customer confidence. These functions support financial intermediation. Savings provide funds that can be allocated as credit, while prudent lending and risk management help protect the institution and its customers.

The article stresses that these principles have remained remarkably consistent over time. Even as technology and competition change delivery, banks still need a strong deposit base and sound decisions about credit. Confidence is essential because customers must continue trusting banks with their savings and financial relationships.

The environment around these functions is changing faster. Digital services, new financial providers and global connections can reshape business models and competitive dynamics quickly. Bank leaders therefore need to preserve these foundations while building the capabilities required to serve customers efficiently and manage an uncertain future.