Foreign banks trail Indian banks

Foreign banks lag local peers in credit and deposit growth stakes

Foreign banks in India trailed the revitalised Indian banks in 2004-05. The growth in credit as well as deposits of foreign banks during the year was lower compared to that for the public sector and the private sector banks.

Foreign banks' annual credit growth was 24.6 per cent, as on March 31, 2005, against the highest growth of 33.6 per cent for nationalised banks, 31.9 per cent for private sector banks and 26 per cent for State Bank of India (SBI) and its associates.

Foreign banks lagged behind in credit disbursements even though their loan books swelled much more than they had done in 2003-04. And foreign banks fell behind despite the fact that their credit growth in 2004-05 was much higher than the 15.3 per cent rise in 2003-04.

The growth in deposits for foreign banks in 2004-05 was scanty "" only 5.2 per cent compared to 15.7 per cent for SBI & Associates, 15.9 per cent for nationalised banks and 17.8 per cent for private sector banks.

This is in contrast with foreign banks' deposits growth in 2003-04 "". the highest at 28.6 per cent against 19.7 per cent for the SBI group, 16.2 per cent for nationalised banks and 23 per cent for private sector banks.

In 2004-05, the banking sector's aggregate credit jumped 30.6 per cent to Rs 11,57,807 crore, while total deposits grew 15.6 per cent to Rs 17,53,174 crore.
 

Playing second fiddle
Growth (in %)	2004-05
	Credit	Deposit
SBI & Associates	26.0	15.7
Nationalised Banks	33.6	15.9
Private Sector Banks	31.9	17.8
Foreign Banks	24.6	5.2

Total outstanding credit of SBI & Associates at the end of March 2005 stood at Rs 2,67,668 crore. Private sector banks' loan books, as on March 31, 2005, were Rs 2,32,232 crore, while those of nationalised banks were at Rs 5,48,236 crore and foreign banks at Rs 77,113 crore.

In 2004-05, while aggregate deposits of foreign banks were a five-digit Rs 77,160 crore, those of the SBI group were Rs 4,24,750 crore, nationalised banks Rs 8,72,585 crore and private sector banks Rs 3,17,253 crore "" all higher.