The Reserve Bank of India Report on Currency and Finance, 1997-98, released on Monday, has said that while disbursements of IDBI, ICICI, LIC and GIC went up sharply during the year, those by IFCI and UTI grew at a much lower rate than those of the industry. The report has also pointed out that funds have moved to the core sectors in a big way and the private sector continued to garner a larger share of the sanctions pie.

According to the report, IDBI sanctions and disbursements aggregated Rs 24,199 crore and Rs 15,165 crore, registering an increase of 41.9 per cent and 32.6 per cent respectively over the year.

Industry-wise analysis of IDBI's financial assistance reveals that during the year, core and other manufacturing sectors accounted for bulk of the assistancesanctioned and disbursed. "Core sector industries such as iron and steel, oil exporation and refining, cement and fertiliser together accounted for 18.7 per cent of overall assistance sanctioned," the report says.

During 1997-98, financial assistance sanctioned and disbursed by ICICI aggregated Rs 25,532 crore and Rs 15,807 crore, registering increases of 81.3 per cent and 41.4 per cent respectively over the year. The sector-wise assistance sanctioned by ICICI during the year reveals that the private sector accounted for bulk of the sanctions amounting to Rs 21,679 crore (84.9 per cent).

Sanctions made by IFCI amounted to Rs 10,983 crore, indicating a growth of 52.3 per cent over the Rs 7,212 crore during the previous year. Disbursements at Rs 5,650 crore recorded a growth of 9.6 per cent over the year. Of the total sanctions of Rs 10,983 crore by IFCI during 1997-98, private sector accounted for Rs 10,712 crore (97.5 per cent) followed by the joint ventures at Rs 245 crore (2.2 per cent).

According tothe report, total financial assitance sanctioned and disbursed by UTI during the year 1997-98 aggregated Rs 4,579 crore and Rs 3,499 crore, registering increases of 24.8 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively over the previous year. Investible funds of UTI increased to Rs 61,110 crore as on June 30, 1998, from Rs 57,125 crore as on June 30, 1997.

The share of investments in the corporate sector by way of equity shares, debentures and term loans amounted to Rs 54,268 crore (88.8 per cent of the total investible funds) as on June 30, 1998, compared with Rs 48,887 crore (85.6 per cent) as at end-June 1997. At end-June 1998, UTI's investments in government securities amounted to Rs 2,517 crore accounting for 4.1 per cent of the total investible funds compared with 7.9 per cent in the previous year. During 1997-98, net sales of units by UTI were at the order of Rs 1,230 crore against Rs 2,097 crore during the previous year, registering a decline of 41.3 per cent.

During 1997-98, assistance sanctioned anddibursed by LIC in the form of term loans, underwriting and direct subscriptions to shares and debentures of corporate sector aggregated Rs 3,563 crore and Rs 3,971 crore, registering increases of 26.3 per cent and 34.1 per cent respectively. Up to March 1998, the cumulative sanctions and disbursements amounted to Rs 17,373 crore and Rs 15,617 crore respectively.

Total financial assitance sanctioned by GIC and its subsidiaries declined by 7.9 per cent from Rs 1,273 crore to Rs 1,273 crore in 1996-97, disbursements rose by 23.6 per cent to Rs 1,144 crore compared with Rs 925 crore during the previous year. The share of the private sector constituted 61.7 per cent and 66.3 per cent of the total sanctions and disbursements respectively.