The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released its latest publication titled ‘Quarterly Basic Statistical Returns (BSR)-1: Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), March 2023’ on the Database on Indian Economy (DBIE) portal. The report presents data from 89 SCBs, excluding Regional Rural Banks, categorized by bank groups, population groups, and states.
According to the report, bank credit growth has witnessed a significant acceleration over the past year, reaching 15.9% in March 2023, compared to 10.7% a year ago. All population groups experienced double-digit credit growth during the 2022-23 period, with bank branches in metropolitan centers accounting for 62% of total credit in March 2023.
All population groups maintained double-digit credit growth during 2022-23; bank branches in metropolitan centres accounted for 62% of total credit in March 2023.
Personal loans segment has been driving the overall bank credit growth in recent years: it recorded 19.7% growth in March 2023 (16.5% a year ago). The share of personal loans in total credit increased to 28.6% in March 2023 from 21.5% five years ago and 16.0 ten years ago.
With rising economic activities, industrial credit growth (y-o-y) accelerated to 9.1% in March 2023 from 4.8% a year ago; demand for working capital loans also surged (18.5% y-o-y growth in March 2023).
Within credit to individuals, the share of women borrowers has been rising gradually: it stood at 22.9% in March 2023 (20.6% five years ago).
Private sector banks accounted for 45% of the incremental loans during 2022-23; their share in total credit rose to 39.0 per cent in March 2023 from 38.1% a year ago and 30.2% five years ago.
Among states, Maharashtra maintained the highest share (28.2%) in total bank credit, followed by National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi (10.9%) and Tamil Nadu (9.1%).
The weighted average lending rate (WALR) on outstanding credit increased by 26 basis points (bps) during January-March 2023 and by 117 bps during April 2022-March 2023.
