Credit growth to improve after rate cut, says SBI

SBI said it had received about Rs 1,60,000 cr in low-cost deposits after demonetisation

The 90-basis point (bp) rate cut is expected to improve credit growth for the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) to eight-nine% for the financial year 2016-17. So far, credit has grown at an unimpressive 6.7-6.8% since April 2016, SBI Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said.

This is a decline, compared with SBI’s loan growth estimate at the beginning of the financial year of 11-12%. The demonetisation move has led to a slump in the economy and is a major reason for the drop in credit demand. SBI is looking at the retail segment to grow its credit portfolio. 

The