Sustainable Banking in India: A Paradigm Shift

The climate catastrophes are increasing day by day across the globe. In view of the same the concept of sustainable banking has been adopted giving importance to environmental and socially responsible investing. It has gained a worldwide momentum. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pursues its core values laid emphasis on Sustainable Development (SD), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Non-Financial Reporting (NFR) of banks in operation across India. Economic development of any country in relation to its environmental protection and social responsibility is the need of the day. SD in the banking sector basically refers to the upholding of environmental and social systems in quest of economic progress. CSR is the integration of environmental and social concerns of banking companies in their business operations. Therefore, sustainable banking in India is deemed as the sine-qua-non for overall development of the national economy. It is the spin around which the development activities of the bank revolve along with economic development of the nation. This paper analyses and institutes a comparison between five top Indian Banks in Public and Private Sector pertaining in the direction of disclosure of NFR and in pursuance of the findings, necessary suggestions are given to enhance the confidence of the stakeholders that banks are concerned in maintaining sustainable banking practices.