Central Bank plans to buy Rs 30 billion of retail loans in next 4 months

While cost reduction and recoveries from bad loans was on top of their agenda, the bank also has to grow its loan book for more revenue, says Cenntral Bank MD

With Rs 220 billion in surplus money, state-owned Central Bank of India plans to buy loans to individuals (termed retail loans) up to Rs 30 billion in the remaining part of the current financial year.

State Bank of India (SBI), Union Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have all been active in buying retail loan portfolios from both non-bank finance corporations (NBFCs) and housing finance corporations (HFCs), both of which were in need of immediate liquidity. The markets faced a severe fund crunch since the defaults by IL&FS group entities.

In fact, SBI had jacked up its retail loan buy-back