Bank credit growth slowed in Dec quarter on muted industrial demand

Bank credit rose 6.52 per cent year-on-year to Rs 102.52 trillion, while deposits grew 10.64 per cent to Rs 138.50 trillion in the fortnight ended May 8, according to latest RBI data.

In the fortnight ended May 10, 2019, bank loans had stood at Rs 96.24 trillion, and deposits at Rs 125.17 trillion.

On a fortnightly basis, bank credit declined by Rs 21,010.36 crore to Rs 102.52 trillion in the reporting period from Rs 102.73 trillion in the fortnight ended April 24, 2020.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said state-owned banks sanctioned about Rs 6.45 trillion worth loans to various sectors, including MSMEs, agriculture and retail between March 1 and May 15.

Loans sanctioned by public sector banks (PSBs) at the end of May 8 stood at Rs 5.95 trillion.

"Loans worth over Rs 6.45 trillion were sanctioned by PSBs during March 1 - May 15 for 5.4 million accounts from MSME, Retail, Agriculture & Corporate sectors; A notable increase compared to the Rs 5.95 trillion sanctioned as of May 8," Sitharaman had tweeted.

State-owned banks sanctioned over Rs 1.03 trillion as emergency credit lines and working capital enhancements in the period March 20 to May 15, which is a substantial increase over the Rs 65,879 crore that had been sanctioned up to May 8, she had said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a separate release, said bank credit growth (y-o-y) decelerated for the fourth successive quarter in December 2019 as industrial credit growth (-0.8 per cent) moved to the negative terrain for the first time after September 2017.

During the quarter, personal loans segment continued to grow at a robust pace of 17.1 per cent.

Private sector banks led the credit expansion as their share in total credit had successively expanded to 35.7 per cent in December 2019 from 32.2 per cent a year ago and 30 per cent two years ago, RBI data showed.

The y-o-y credit growth by metropolitan branches decelerated to 5.2 per cent in December 2019 from 14.7 per cent a year ago, whereas bank branches in rural, semi-urban and urban areas maintained double-digit credit growth, RBI said.

Branches in northern, western and southern states accounted for nearly 84 per cent of the total credit in the December quarter, the central bank said.