Mumbai, Sep 26 (KNN) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday urged banks and financial institutions with strong balance sheets to scale up lending to public infrastructure, industry and the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

Speaking at the Foundation Day event of Bank of Maharashtra, she underlined the critical role of banks in sustaining economic momentum amid rising global uncertainties.

“The global environment has become increasingly unpredictable. The extent to which countries are affected depends on their exposure to these shocks and how well-prepared they are,” Sitharaman said, according to TOI.

She noted that despite turbulence in the international economy, India had demonstrated resilience, supported by robust domestic demand, strong fundamentals and improved sovereign ratings from global agencies.

According to her, the country’s response to external challenges was not incidental but rooted in the inherent strength of its economy.

The Finance Minister also called on public sector banks to uphold professional management and customer-centric practices. Stressing the importance of grievance redressal, she said complaints must be treated as opportunities to improve, innovate and reinforce customer trust.

“Grievance redressal must go hand in hand with root cause analysis, systemic corrections in products, processes and conduct, besides a commitment to ensure complaints do not recur,” she added.

Addressing the event, Department of Financial Services Secretary M. Nagaraju highlighted the importance of credit flows to MSMEs in enabling their expansion and supporting recovery in stressed sectors.

He said while the government had consistently emphasised capital support to MSMEs, banks also needed to step up their role in providing timely and adequate financing.