Banking at the Scale of a Nation: Insights on Digital Strategy and Resilience

In a recent BW Businessworld fireside chat, Nitin Chugh, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Digital Banking & Transformation at State Bank of India, and Rajiv Shesh, Chief Revenue Officer at HCLSoftware, explored the challenges of banking at national scale. Moderated by Minu Sirsalewala, the discussion emphasized that institutions enduring for centuries succeed not by resisting change but by repeatedly reinventing themselves.

Digital transformation in banking is often framed as a race to modernize faster, adopt smarter systems, and deploy emerging technologies. However, when serving hundreds of millions of citizens, speed alone is insufficient. At this scale, transformation requires judgment, resilience, and adaptability, ensuring that modernization aligns with trust, compliance, and inclusivity.

Key Highlights

• Population Scale: Banking transformation must prioritize judgment over speed.
• Institutional Resilience: Long-standing banks thrive by continuous reinvention.
• Digital Strategy: Modernization framed not as a race but as sustainable adaptation.
• National Impact: Serving millions demands balancing innovation with reliability.
• Future Outlook: Technology adoption must align with inclusivity and trust.

Sources: BW Businessworld