The Trust Deficit and Initial Challenges A decade ago, India’s banking sector was navigating a profound trust deficit. Rising Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), weak balance sheets, lax monitoring, and a culture of “extend and pretend” had transformed banks from engines of economic growth into crisis-prone institutions. The problem was not merely bad loans; the deeper issue lay in the system’s delayed recognition of risk. Banks were often reactive rather than proactive, responding to risks only after they had manifested, and by then, remedial measures became difficult. A lack of transparency, accountability, and systematic risk assessment weakened financial stability and delayed policy interventions. It was in this environment that a transformative journey of reforms began — and it began in an extraordinary way. Leadership and the ‘Manthan’: The Starting Point of Reform In 2015 the Prime Minister convened a historic 3 day ls meeting at the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM), Pune,...