ICICI Bank indicated that its loan book might grow at only 15 per this year, therefore bank will continue to be cautious while lending to some retail segments.
Two years ago bank had regulated 55 per cent of flow in advances which has fallen down by 15% bringing down the growth rate.
In the first half of this fiscal ended on September 30 the bank saw a growth of 7.2% only in the lending segment. If we see from this prospect then 15 per cent growth rate for the year will look somewhat healthy.
Even the advances during April-September increased by 7.2 per cent to Rs 2,21,985 crore over Rs 2,07,121 crore at the end of September 2007.
K.V. Kamath, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, who had come to
At present banks retail loans stand at 55 per cent of the bank’s loan book. In retail advances home loans have a large portion followed by auto loans, personal loans and credit cards.
From the past few quarters the retail loan book growth of ICICI Bank has been reasonable due to hike in interest rates even as the bank deliberately tightened credit norms of certain sectors such as credit cards. The bank had also stopped giving small-ticket personal loans.
According to analysts growth in advances to the corporate sector has been healthy this year. “It seems that the bank sees the 15 per cent loan growth coming largely from the corporate sector,” said a banking analyst with a local brokerage.
When funds sources start drying up then they are expected to turn to domestic banks to meet their credit requirements.
On the other hand the State Bank of
According to ICICI source though retail lending can see de-growth, this will be more than compensated by the corporate sector. “We do not envisage any major change in the demand for credit,” he said.
