Banks’ credit and deposits grew by 7.10 per cent and 10.09 per cent to Rs 99.47 lakh crore and Rs 130.08 lakh crore in the fortnight ended December 20, according to the latest Reserve Bank data. In the year-ago fortnight, banks’ advances stood at Rs 92.87 lakh crore, while deposits were at Rs 118.16 lakh crore. In the previous fortnight ended December 6, credit had grown by 7.91 per cent to Rs 99.34 lakh crore and deposits had increased by 10.27 per cent to Rs 131.05 lakh crore. On a year-on-year basis, banks’ credit growth slowed to 7.2 per cent to Rs 86.73 lakh crore in November 2019 from 13.8 per cent increase to Rs 80.93 lakh crore in the year-ago period. Loans to industry growth fell to 2.4 per cent to Rs 27.72 lakh crore in November from 4 per cent in the corresponding month of 2018. Rating agency Icra in a recent report said credit expansion may plummet to a six-decade low of 6.5-7 per cent in 2019-20 compared to 13.3 per cent in the previous financial year.

(Economic Times)