A STUDY ON GREEN BANKING INITIATIVES BY PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR BANKS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

Green Banking is an umbrella term referring to practices and guidelines that make banks sustainable in economic, environment, and social dimensions. It aims to make banking processes and the use of IT and physical infrastructure as efficient and effective as possible, with zero or minimal impact on the environment. Green banking is making technological improvements, operational improvements and changing client habits in the banking sector. It is a smart and proactive way of thinking with a vision of future sustainability. Banking activities are not physically related to the environment, but the external impact of their customer activities is substantial. Green banking differs from traditional banking. It focuses on promoting environment friendly banking. Green banking refers to the banking in such a manner that helps for overall reduction of internal carbon footprint and external carbon emission. The objective of the present study is to understand the use of green banking products in banking sector and examine the green banking initiatives taken by public and private sector banks. This research is based on primary data which is collected 136 responded from various banks with respect to Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The study found that there is no significant association between various initiatives taken by private sector banks and public sector banks in the implementation of green banking practices. The study also found private & public sector banks are less emphasized on core banking solution and use E-waste management for adopting environmental friendly practices. The study found that 100% of public and private sector banks are use online banking, mobile banking and other banking services. The main purpose of green banking is to reduce time and cost of the customer and involves tenets of sustainability, ethical lending, conservation and energy efficiency.