SBI, Axis, HDFC Bank top go-to lenders for Indian Inc during Covid: Report

Companies say digital infra provided by Indian banks and faster loan and account documentation helped them during crisis.

Large and mid-sized Indian corporates relied upon the big lenders in the Indian banking space for their funding needs during the pandemic, thereby accelerating the consolidation in the corporate banking space.

In a report published by "Coalition Greenwich", a part of rating agency Crisil, large and mid-sized Indian copanies both said the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has done the best job in helping them mitigate the impact of the pandemic. And among private sector players, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank provided funding support to them, Citi and HSBC were their top funding sources among foreign banks.

“The fact that India’s biggest banks were able to quickly marshal the financial, operational, and technological capabilities required to provide that assistance is strengthening their relationships with Indian companies and widening the divide between themselves and their competitors”, the report noted.

The companies surveyed said the digital infrastructure provided by Indian banks, faster turnaround time, and faster loan and account documentation have helped them during the crisis period.

According to the report, in the large corporate banking segment, SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank emerged as the “2021 Greenwich Share Leaders”, while Axis Bank was the “2021 Greenwich Quality Leader”. Among foreign banks, JP Morgan emerged as the quality leader while Citi, Standard Chartered, and HSBC were share leaders. Similarly, in the middle market segment, SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank emerged as the share leaders while Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were quality leaders.

Interestingly, the corporate banking space had begun consolidating even prior to the pandemic, driven by the Reserve Bank of India’s decisive steps. Covid-19 has only accelerated the process.

According to the report, in 2016, around 17 per cent of large and mid-sized companies were using Axis, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank as their lending partners. Come 2020, this share went up to 25 per cent, with these large private banks growing at a rate of 12-13 per cent year-on-year. On the other hand, SBI defended its position in the years leading up to the pandemic and in 2020. it pressed the accelerator and expanded its footprint. “Now, nearly a third of Indian corporates cite SBI as one of their top 7-10 corporate banks, and 30 per cent named SBI as a cash management provider”, the report said.

Consolidation in the public sector banking space allowed SBI to shore up its business in the corporate banking market, the report says. “That exercise also created opportunities for both SBI and private-sector banks to pick up business from clients of smaller public-sector providers engaged in the disruptive consolidation process”.

Also, the new directives by the RBI on opening and operating corporate current accounts meant that SBI and other large private sector banks are winning corporate relationships at the expense of foreign banks.

“The new directive has put foreign banks under considerable pressure. Even before the circular, foreign banks were finding it more and more difficult to compete with India’s domestic private-sector banks, which are rapidly upgrading capabilities. In addition, their employees are increasingly able to go toe-to-toe with their foreign counterparts, due in large part to the training and experience they received working for foreign banks earlier in their careers”, the report added.

While large firms, except for the initial months of the pandemic, were not hard-pressed for funds because most were deleveraging while some tapped the capital market, it was the smaller ones that were more vulnerable to economic shocks due to their size, which got much-needed relief from the various regulatory initiatives that banks extended to them at RBI's behest.