Credit off-take to improve in second half: SBH

Bank is currently collecting the data on loan dues and providing information to the government

State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH) managing director Santanu Mukherjee, who took charge on Wednesday, expects credit off-take in the corporate sector to grow in the second half of the current financial year driven by infrastructure activities in particular.

“So far the credit growth in this segment had been muted and will continue to be so in the second quarter as well. But I hope the second half of the year will be different,” he said on the sidelines of a conference here on Thursday.

Responding to a question on agriculture loan overdues, Mukherjee said the NPA levels of the bank would go up since the government was yet to implement the loan waiver scheme as it had promised. However, he said, these NPA levels would come down as and when the government starts implementing the scheme for the farmers.

As Telangana’s lead bank and convenor of the State level Bankers Committee (SLBC), the SBH is currently collecting data on loan dues and providing information to the government  on various scenarios depending on the scope of the proposed loan waiver, according to its managing director.

When asked if the banks have received any directions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this regard, Mukherjee said they had not received any communication from the RBI either on farm loan reschedulement or on debt waiver plans of the state.

“More than anything else we need to finalise the credit plan for the current year for the Telangana state. It is ready and we will hold the SLBC to unveil the credit plan as soon as the chief minister's time schedule gets confirmed,” he said.

The bank is announcing its financial results for the April-June quarter on Saturday.