As India targets significant infrastructure and innovation-led growth, banks must evolve by leveraging Al for hyper-personalisation, integrating ESG considerations, and maintaining high governance standards, Setty said.State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman CS Setty on Wednesday said the growth momentum in the economy is likely to stabilise if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintains the status quo on policy rates amid lingering inflation concerns.Speaking at the Citi 2026 India Conference, Setty said market expectations are largely aligned towards a pause in interest rates. The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is scheduled to announce its monetary policy decision on June 5.“Growth and inflation dynamics are more important. I think a pause will definitely help us to stabilise in terms of ensuring that smooth growth rates are achieved,” he said.Τo reach the status of a developed economy, the focus must shift to rural prosperity, urban transformation, human capital investment (leveraging India’s demographic dividend), and globally competitive manufacturing, he said.As India targets significant infrastructure and innovation-led growth, banks must evolve by leveraging Al for hyper-personalisation, integrating ESG considerations, and maintaining high governance standards, Setty said. He highlighted the transformation from an era of manual processes and limited credit access to the modern, digitised banking landscape in the last 37 years.The banking sector has transitioned from a provider of basic financial services to a fundamental partner in nation- building, he said.Setty said a cornerstone of India’s growth is its digital public infrastructure, including the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) and UPI. SBI alone processes approximately 250 million UPI transactions monthly with a technical decline rate of just 0.1%, he said.Story continues below this adBanking has democratised finance, specifically citing the microfinance sector where 95% of borrowers are women, helping to lift millions out of poverty and fostering rural prosperity.Setty said he viewed Al as a productivity booster, noting that SBI is an early adopter of responsible and ethical Al to achieve efficiency at scale across its massive customer base of over 530 million.The focus is firmly on the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) rather than private cryptocurrencies, with potential applications for programmable, targeted direct benefit transfers, he said.The transition toward electronics manufacturing and the electrification of public transportation (e.g., Indian Railways) are highlighted as key growth drivers for the future, he said.