Bank Credit Soars By Rs 26,642 Crore

Bank credit has shown a hefty increase of Rs 26,642 crore to Rs 4,62,600 crore up to September 8 in this financial year, registering a 6.1 per cent increase compared with a paltry Rs 6,451 crore or 1.7 per cent growth during the corresponding period last year.

On a year-on-year (YOY) basis, the growth is to the tune of Rs 87,312 crore or 23.3 per cent compared with Rs 51,234 crore (15.5 per cent) during the previous year.

Non-food credit staged a spectacular rise of Rs 19,883 crore during the current fiscal between April and September 8 against a meagre Rs 2,321 crore last year.

The food credit also went up marginally from Rs 4.130 crore last year to Rs 6,759 crore during the current fiscal.

On YOY basis, non-food credit growth was to the tune of Rs 75,808 crore YOY against Rs 46,313 crore last year.

In comparison, the deposit growth has not been that hefty. The aggregate deposit up to September 8 has grown by Rs 51,276 crore or 6.3 per cent compared with Rs 36,909 crore (5.2 per cent) last year.

However, on YOY basis, the growth in aggregate deposits actually declined in percentage term. It stood at Rs 1,13,686 crore or 15.1 per cent compared with RS 1,01,855 crore or 15.7 per cent.

Bank investments showed a massive decline during the year so far. Up to September 8, the investment portfolio of all scheduled commercial banks grew by Rs 23,438 crore or 7.6 per cent, down from Rs 34,292 crore or 13.5 per cent.

On YOY, investments were up by Rs 43,496 crore or 15.1 per cent against Rs 43,963 crore (17.9 per cent).

With fears of an increasing oil price hike foreign exchange reserves in the country is on the decline again. The forex reserves have been on a downslide for over two months except for the week ending on September 1.

The foreign exchange reserves fell by $94 million to $ 35.261 billion for the week ended September 15.

The reserves which had risen by a marginal $17 million for the week ended September 1, had fallen by $264 million the next week.

The fall in the foreign currency reserves were entirely on account of fall in foreign currency assets. The foreign currency assets fell to $32.42. The gold and special drawing rights (SDRs) reserves, however, remained at the level of $2.8 billion and $2 million, respectively.

Loans and advances to the government increased by Rs 979 crore over the week.

While the loans and advances to the central government increased by Rs 337 crore, the loans to the state governments increased by Rs 642 crore.

RBI's net credit to the government rose by 11.8 per cent YOY over the fortnight, significantly lower than 15.8 per cent in last year.