Bank credit growth drops to 16.8% in October-December: RBI

‘Growth in credit was led by bank branches in metropolitan centres, which account for nearly 60% of the total credit by scheduled commercial banks and recorded 17.2% rise (y-o-y) in lending’

Bank credit growth slowed down to 16.8% in the October-December 2022 period from a year earlier, RBI data showed. This compares with 17.2% seen in the previous quarter, according to the quarterly statistics on bank deposits and credit, released by the Reserve Bank of India on Monday

A year earlier, credit growth was 8.4%.

“Growth in credit was led by bank branches in metropolitan centres, which account for nearly 60% of the total credit by SCBs [scheduled commercial banks] and recorded 17.2% rise (y-o-y) in lending; urban, semi-urban and rural centres also recorded double digit credit growth,” the RBI said.

Public sector banks increased their credit portfolio by 15.7% during the calendar year 2022 (4.7% in 2021); corresponding growth for private sector banks, however, remained higher at 19.1% (13.1% a year earlier), it said.

Aggregate deposits increased by 10.3% (y-o-y) in December 2022, led by 13.2% growth in term deposits; current and savings deposits recorded moderate growth of 4.6% and 7.3%, respectively.

Deposit mobilisation by public sector banks improved to 8.8% growth in December 2022 (6.9% a year earlier) though it remained lower than the 13.2% growth in deposits seen in private sector banks.

The all-India credit-deposit (C-D) ratio increased further to 75.9% in December 2022 (74.8% in the previous quarter and 71.6% in December 2021); it remained above 100% for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, the RBI said.