The economic slowdown in the country may have pulled down the credit offtake of the country?s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) and is likely to dip by 15-20% for the Q3 2008-09.
Even though the bank has sanctioned loans in plenty, the disbursal has not happened at the required level. The bank will be declaring its third quarter results on January 24.
A senior SBI official, who preferred to remain anonymous, said, ?The credit offtake of SBI for the third quarter of the current fiscal is expected to be around Rs 11,100 crore from around Rs 13,000 crore a year ago.?
However, SBI?s credit offtake for the period is expected to be higher than that of the other banks in the country, he claimed.
As on 12 January, 2009, SBI also revised its bulk deposit rates to a maximum limit of 7.5%, which was lower than its card deposit rates for which the maximum limit was 9%.
The bank considers only those deposits as bulk deposits that are above Rs 1 crore.
However, the bank is likely to show good results on other parameters like net interest margin (NIM). The NIM of the bank for the period is likely to be at 3.07% which will be more than the 3.03%-mark witnessed by the bank at the end of the first quarter of the current fiscal.
?The growth in NIM is a healthy sign,? said the official. Speaking about the NPA, the official said that it was likely to be minimal.
On the special package as announced by the government for housing loans upto Rs 20 lakh, the official said that though the bank has sanctioned loans in plenty, still the disbursal has not reached the required level.
?Such a situation has hapened as the state-owned banks like ours have lowered their loans, but the builders have slashed their rates. The additional loans the bank has sanctioned after the announcement of the special package was Rs 200 crore,? said the senior official.
….awaits govt nod for 3G
State Bank of India is now looking forward for the government?s nod for the much awaited 3G spectrum in the telecom sector, which was very much part of the infrastructure sector. A senior SBI official told FE, ?We hope that there will be 4-5 players in the forthcoming venture and we are looking forward to finance quite a few of them?. The bank was quite aggressive in lending to the long-term infrastructure projects of the country. Some of the infra projects being financed by the bank include port, power plant, toll road, railways and SEZ.
