Bank loan growth enters slow lane as rate hikes begin to pinch

MUMBAI: Banks are seeing a decline in loan growth, thanks to a slowdown in certain sectors of the economy. Bank loans have grown by Rs 1,02,779 crore between April and end-August this year against Rs 1,09,189 crore in the same period a year ago.

Latest RBI figures put total bank credit at Rs 40,44,862 crore as on August 26, down Rs 3,595 crore over the previous fortnight’s levels.

At current levels, total loans, including loans for food procurement by FCI and loans to farmers, businesses and individuals, incremental loan growth work out to 2.6% against 3.4% in the year-ago period. However, in terms of annual credit growth, the data shows a marginal pickup.

The YoY growth works out to 20.6% compared to 19.5% last year. “We see a demand in mining, infrastructure and home loans,” said a senior official with a public sector banks, requesting anonymity.

Bankers say that they are hopeful of a pick-up in credit in the second half, typically, when investment activity in the economy picks up.

The data on sectoral break-up of bank credit until end-July indicates that loans to agriculture, mid-sized corproates, commercial real estate and certain segments like retail loans for purchase of consumer durables and education loans, among others, are seeing a slowdown.

The credit data also somewhat corroborates the trend in the real sector. Meanwhile, forex reserves rose $1.6 billion to $320.2 billion due to a sharp rise in value of gold in reserves during the week ended September 2.