MUMBAI: Loans growth has slowed down in the third quarter (Q3) of 2009 compared with both previous year’s levels as well as the preceding Q2.
Meanwhile, foreign exchange reserves rose $627 million on account of appreciation of gold in reserves.
According to figures released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its weekly statistical supplement (WSS), total bank credit, including food and non-food credit, rose Rs 1,572 crore in December to Rs 26,45,415 crore. While food credit went up by Rs 2,730 crore during the month, non-food credit dipped Rs 1,157 crore. Deposits, on the other hand, grew by Rs 21,412 crore to touch Rs 35,69,352 crore as on December 26.
Lending eased during the quarter, with the slowdown coming towards December. For the quarter as whole, between September 26 and December 27, total bank credit went up by Rs 102,947 crore compared with a growth of Rs 1,11,806 crore in the same period a year ago, and Rs 1,29,397 crore in the previous quarter ended September 2008.
Non-food credit went up by Rs 95,000 crore between September and December 2008 compared with a growth of Rs 1,07,803 crore in the same period a year ago.
Bankers attribute this slowdown to low demand from corporates.
Though deposit growth slowed down in December, the quarter ended with a higher growth of RS 1,27,215 crore as compared to Rs 79,928 crore in the same period a year ago.
Foreign exchange reserve including gold and SDR dipped $627m to $ 255.2bn during the week ended January 02. While foreign currency assets rose 5$m largely on account of revaluation of non-dollar assets in the reserves, the value of gold in reserves rose $624m. The value of gold in reserves is linked to bullion prices at the London Metal Exchange and in revalued at the end of every month.
In the other developments reported in the WSS, the government availed of the ways and means advances (WMA)- a temperory advance to meet its revenue mismatches. The outstanding WMA as on January 02 amounted to Rs 33,232 crore, way above the revised limit of Rs 20,000 crore.
Source : The Economic Times