Credit offtake increased by 20% YoY to reach Rs 159.6 trillion

Credit offtake growth: Credit offtake continues to be robust, increasing by 20 per cent YoY to reach Rs 159.6 lakh crore, for the fortnight ended December 29, 2023, a report by CareEdge said on Monday. 

“This rise can be attributed to the impact of HDFC Ltd’s merger with HDFC Bank along with the festival season and growth in personal loans. If we exclude the impact of the merger, credit grew at a rate of 15.7 per cent YoY fortnight compared to last year’s growth of 14.9 per cent,” the report added further. 

Outlook for bank credit growth

The outlook for bank credit offtake continues to remain positive for FY24 with expectations of growth in unsecured personal loans slowing down due to RBI’s action on risk weights. 

According to the reports, deposits too grew by 13.2 per cent YoY for the fortnight (including the merger impact), breaching the Rs 200 lakh crore threshold to reach Rs. 200.8 lakh crore as on December 29, 2023. 

“Sequentially we saw an increase of 1.5 per cent. Deposit growth is expected to improve in FY24 compared to earlier periods as banks look to shore up their liability franchise,” the report mentioned further. 

The Short-term Weighted Average Call Rate (WACR) stood at 6.73 per cent as of January 5, 2024, compared to 6.08 per cent on January 5, 2023, due to pressure on short-term rates.