Banking sector posts 10.7 pct YoY growth in Dec'17

The banking sector sustained its growth momentum post the Centre's public sector bank (PSB) recapitalisation plan by driving a significant surge in credit growth.

As per latest statistics, the banking sector posted a double digit growth of 10.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in December 2017, up from 7.2 percent in October last year.

The growth was backed by the performance of the services and retail sectors, according to Rajeev Kumar, Secretary of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance.

For the unversed, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced an unprecedented PSB recapitalisation program of Rs. 2.11 lakh crore in October 2017, in a bid to improve the lending capacity of banks.

Following this, the ministry last week presented a demand in the Lok Sabha for an additional expenditure towards the bank recapitalisation plan for public sector banks, to the tune of Rs. 80,000 crore.

The supplementary grant was being sought to meet expenditure towards recapitalisation of PSBs, through the issue of government securities. After taking into account additional receipts on the issue of securities to PSBs, the ministry noted that this supplementary grant will not entail cash outgo.