Credit growth falls to 60-year low

Saddled with high bad debt and weak corporate demand, credit growth plunged to a six-decade low of 5.08 per cent in the financial year 2016-17, as against 10.7 per cent a year ago, according to the Reserve Bank data.

For the year to March, banks’ outstanding credit stood at Rs 78.81 trillion compared to Rs 75.01 trillion as of April 1 2016, show the central bank data. The numbers are surprising as the economy has been clipping at close to 7 per cent during the year under review and interest rates have been heading south. One main reason for the massive