Bank credit grows nearly 17 pc for fortnight ended Nov 18: RBI

Indian banking system's outstanding credit grew by 16.96 per cent for the fortnight ended November 18, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. The bank credit grew to Rs 133.29 lakh crore for the fortnight ended November 18 this year as against Rs 113.96 lakh crore on November 19, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said.

The deposit growth came at 9.30 per cent, with the overall base Rs 177.15 lakh crore as on November 18 as against Rs 162.06 lakh crore in the year-ago period, it said.

Interestingly, amid a war for deposits in the system as banks jostle to raise the liabilities to fund the elevated credit growth, the overall deposits in the system declined marginally during the fortnight as against the Rs 177.88 lakh crore as on November 4.

It can be noted that the current fiscal has seen a steady rise in credit growth in FY23 driven by a variety of reasons, including economic growth, borrowers' shift to the bank as against other credit substitutes amid rising interest rates, etc.

In FY 2021-22, bank credit rose by 8.59 per cent and deposits by 8.94 per cent.