Now Reading: SBI chief says AI can expand rural credit; RBI warns of AI frauds
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SBI chief says AI can expand rural credit; RBI warns of AI frauds
SBI chief says AI can expand rural credit; RBI warns of AI frauds
State Bank of India Chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty has called on Indian banks to use artificial intelligence beyond retail banking and customer service to expand credit to rural communities, small businesses and…
The Story in Brief
State Bank of India Chairman Challa Sreenivasulu Setty has called on Indian banks to use artificial intelligence beyond retail banking and customer service to expand credit to rural communities, small businesses and borrowers outside conventional banking models. Speaking at the FIBAC 2026 conference in Mumbai on Tuesday, Setty said AI could help farmers make informed decisions and improve lending via satellite imagery and digital records.
Separately at the same conference, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said AI is essential to fight AI-driven fraud. He warned that rule-based detection systems are always one step behind fraudsters who adapt quickly. Machine-learning models, he argued, can identify anomalies in real time. Malhotra said banks that succeed in the AI era will be those that understand what they deploy and maintain clear accountability, not those that adopt technology fastest.
The Indian Opinion
Both the SBI chairman and the RBI governor spoke on AI's potential, but the conference left a crucial tension unresolved. Setty's vision of AI opening rural credit assumes risk models that work without traditional data. Malhotra's warning that AI fraud moves at API speed suggests those models could fail spectacularly. The real test is not technology adoption but accountability: which bank will publish its AI lending default rates first? And will that data be shared with the regulator?
Sources (2): timesnownews.com, timesnownews.com (2)
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
