About the Summit
Banking Beyond Credit: Powering Eastern India's Industrial Future
23 September 2026
Kolkata
Banking for Industrial Growth
As India advances towards becoming a globally competitive and investment-driven economy, Eastern India is emerging as a powerful growth engine for industrial expansion, infrastructure development and enterprise-led growth.
Join policymakers, regulators, bankers, financial institutions, industry leaders and fintech innovators to explore how banking can power the region's industrial transformation.
Banking for Industrial Growth
Powering Eastern India's Economic Transformation
India's banking and financial sector has become one of the most resilient pillars of the economy, with overall bank credit expanding by 17.7 percent year-on-year in 2026 and non-food credit growing by 17.4 percent. Banks are increasingly evolving from lenders into strategic partners, driving industrial finance, infrastructure creation and long-term capital formation.
Eastern India's mineral wealth, manufacturing base and industrial corridors position the region to capture this momentum. Nationwide, credit to sectors central to this industrial base grew sharply in 2026: mining and quarrying by 17.5 percent, basic metals by 21.3 percent, engineering by 35.1 percent and micro and small enterprises by 26.2 percent.
It is this convergence of national credit momentum and regional industrial strength that the Colloquium will address, bringing together key stakeholders to explore industrial and infrastructure finance, MSME growth, financial inclusion, governance and regulatory resilience, and digital innovation.
Financial Inclusion
- The value of FI-Index for March 2026 stands at 70.0 vis-à-vis 67.0 in March 2025, with growth witnessed across all sub-indices.
- Improvement in FI-Index, this year, is mainly on account of uptick in Usage, thereby reflecting deepening of financial inclusion.
MSME
- Regulatory measures and schemes like MUDRA, CGTMSE significantly enhanced MSME credit access, driving strong growth.
- SCBs' MSME credit reached ₹36.79 lakh crore by Dec 2025, growing at around15% CAGR over five years.
Technology & Innovation
- Financial institutions must embed AI structurally to reset productivity, redesign operating models, and drive sustainable growth.
- Convergence of AI and digital assets is reshaping competitive positioning, revenue models, and the future of finance.
Women & Empowerment
- Women borrowers now hold ₹76 lakh crore in credit, accounting for 26% of India's system credit.
- Their credit exposure has grown 4.8 times since 2017, while access among women has risen from 19% to 36%.
- The number of credit-active women borrowers has also grown at a 9% CAGR between 2017 and 2025.
- With nearly 45 crore credit-eligible women in India, the scope for further expansion remains significant.