Category: Press Releases

As announced in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies on October 08, 2021, in recognition of the persisting uneven impact of the pandemic on small business units, micro and small industries, and other unorganised sector entities, the SLTRO facility has been extended up to December 31, 2021 and made available on tap, to ensure extended support to these entities.

2. The revised operational guidelines/ details are given in Annex-1.

(Yogesh Dayal)     
Chief General Manager

Press Release: 2021-2022/1023

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Annex-1

The revised operational guidelines/ details of the on tap SLTRO scheme are as under:

a) The scheme will remain operational till December 31, 2021.

b) All Small Finance Banks (SFBs) eligible under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) can participate in the Scheme. There is no tenor restriction regarding lending by SFBs under the scheme. However, the SFBs will have to ensure that the amount borrowed from the RBI should at all times be backed by lending to the specified segments till maturity of the SLTRO. Furthermore, SFBs should endeavour to lend within a reasonable period, i.e., not later than 30 days from the date of availing the funds from RBI.

c) The Scheme will now be operationalised on tap. Accordingly, the last tranche of the SLTRO auction due on October 14, 2021, announced vide our Press Release 2021-2022/181 dated May 07, 2021, will not be conducted.

d) SFBs can place requests for funds in the format enclosed in Annex-2, through e-mail. The Reserve Bank will aggregate all such requests received and release funds every Monday (on the subsequent working day if Monday is a holiday) by initiating a 3-year repo contract at repo rate with the requesting bank.

e) If a bank places multiple requests during the week, all such requests will be aggregated, and a single repo contract will be created on the date of operation.

f) Requests from SFBs desirous of availing funds from the RBI will be subject to availability of funds as on the date of application, i.e., funds cannot be guaranteed in case the total amount of ₹10,000 crore is already availed.

g) In case the requested amount exceeds the remaining amount under the scheme on the date of operation, the remaining amount will be distributed on pro-rata basis among all the eligible requests.

h) The Reserve Bank reserves the right to decide the quantum of allotment and /or accept/reject any or all the requests, either wholly/partially, without assigning any reason thereof.

i) The reversal of these operations would take place at the ‘start of day’ on the day of maturity.

j) The eligible collateral and margin requirements will remain the same as applicable for LAF operations. The requesting bank must ensure that sufficient amount of securities is available in its Repo constituent account on the date of operation. All other terms and conditions as applicable to LAF operations, including facility for security substitution, will also be made applicable to the scheme, mutatis mutandis.

k) The amount utilised under the Scheme will be informed to market participants in the Money Market Operations (MMO) press release.

l) All queries/clarifications regarding operational aspects of the facility may be directed to the Financial Markets Operations Department through e-mail and/or telephone (022-22630982). All technical issues may be directed to the e-Kuber Helpdesk through email with a copy to laffmd@rbi.org.in and/or telephone (022-27595662/67/022-27595591/92/93/94).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated October 07, 2021, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹30.00 lakh (Rupees thirty lakh only) on Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune (the bank) for non-compliance with specific directions dated March 06, 2018 issued by RBI under the Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) and RBI directions on ‘Frauds in UCBs: Changes in Monitoring and Reporting mechanism’. This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI conferred under section 47 A (1) (c) read with sections 46 (4) (i) and 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by RBI. This action is based on deficiency in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers. Background The statutory inspection of the bank conducted by the RBI with reference to the bank’s financial position as on March 31, 2019, the Inspection Report pertaining thereto, and examination of all related correspondence revealed, inter alia, that the bank had not complied with the directions on exposure to sensitive sectors (real estate) and classification and reporting of frauds. In furtherance to the same, a notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed for contravention of the RBI directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice, oral submissions made during the personal hearing and additional submissions made by the bank, RBI came to the conclusion that the charge of non-compliance with the aforesaid RBI directions was substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty, to the extent of non-compliance with the aforesaid directions. (Yogesh Dayal)      Chief General Manager Press Release: 2021-2022/1019

The Reserve Bank of India has launched the 55th round of its Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS). The survey is for the reference period July-September 2021 (Q2:2021-22).

The Reserve Bank has been conducting the Order Books, Inventories and Capacity Utilisation Survey (OBICUS) of the manufacturing sector on a quarterly basis since 2008. The information collected in the survey includes quantitative data on new orders received during the reference quarter, backlog of orders at the beginning of the quarter, pending orders at the end of the quarter, total inventories with a breakup between finished goods (FG), work-in-progress (WiP) and raw material (RM) inventories at the end of the quarter, item-wise production in terms of quantity and value during the quarter vis-à-vis the installed capacity from the targeted group and the reasons for changes in production / installed capacity during the quarter. The level of capacity utilisation (CU) is estimated from these responses. The survey provides valuable input for monetary policy formulation.

The survey findings are released on the website of the bank regularly. The latest results pertaining to the quarter April-June 2021 were released on October 08, 2021.

During this quarter, selected manufacturing companies will be approached by the Bank. Other manufacturing companies may also participate in the survey by downloading the survey questionnaire from the Reserve Bank’s website https://www.rbi.org.in. The survey questionnaire is placed under the head ‘Forms’ (available under the ‘More Links’ at the bottom of the home page) and sub-head ‘Survey’. The duly authenticated filled-in survey schedule may be e-mailed as per contact details provided in the survey schedule.

Company level data are treated as confidential and never disclosed.

In case of any query/clarification, kindly contact us at the following address:

The Director,
Division of Enterprise Surveys,
Department of Statistics and Information Management,
Reserve Bank of India, C-8, 2nd floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-
400051, Phone-022-26578235/279; Please click here to send email.

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2021-2022/1022

(Amount in ₹ crore, Rate in Per cent)   Volume (One Leg) Weighted Average Rate Range A. Overnight Segment (I+II+III+IV) 0.00 – –      I. Call Money 0.00 – –      II. Triparty Repo 0.00 – –      III. Market Repo 0.00 – –      IV. Repo in Corporate Bond 0.00 – – B. Term Segment            I. Notice Money** 0.00 – –      II. Term Money@@ 0.00 – –      III. Triparty Repo 0.00 – –      IV. Market Repo 0.00 – –      V. Repo in Corporate Bond 0.00 – –

Auction Date Tenor (Days) Maturity Date Amount Current Rate / Cut off Rate C. Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) & Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) I. Today’s Operations 1. Fixed Rate                (i) Repo               (ii) Reverse Repo Sun, 10/10/2021 1 Mon, 11/10/2021 5,424.00 3.35     (iii) Special Reverse Repo~               (iv) Special Reverse Repoψ           2. Variable Rate&             (I) Main Operation                (a) Reverse Repo             (II) Fine Tuning Operations                (a) Repo                (b) Reverse Repo           3. MSF Sun, 10/10/2021 1 Mon, 11/10/2021 14.00 4.25 4. Special Long-Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) for Small Finance Banks (SFBs)£           5. Net liquidity injected from today’s operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*       -5,410.00   II. Outstanding Operations 1. Fixed Rate               (i) Repo               (ii) Reverse Repo Sat, 09/10/2021 2 Mon, 11/10/2021 9,307.00 3.35   Fri, 08/10/2021 3 Mon, 11/10/2021 2,53,004.00 3.35     (iii) Special Reverse Repo~ Fri, 08/10/2021 14 Fri, 22/10/2021 6,402.00 3.75     (iv) Special Reverse Repoψ Fri, 08/10/2021 14 Fri, 22/10/2021 2,894.00 3.75 2. Variable Rate&             (I) Main Operation                (a) Reverse Repo Fri, 08/10/2021 14 Fri, 22/10/2021 4,00,002.00 3.99   (II) Fine Tuning Operations                (a) Repo                (b) Reverse Repo Tue, 05/10/2021 7 Tue, 12/10/2021 2,00,001.00 3.61 3. MSF Sat, 09/10/2021 2 Mon, 11/10/2021 14.00 4.25   Fri, 08/10/2021 3 Mon, 11/10/2021 1,195.00 4.25 4. Long-Term Repo Operations# Mon, 17/02/2020 1095 Thu, 16/02/2023 499.00 5.15   Mon, 02/03/2020 1094 Wed, 01/03/2023 253.00 5.15   Mon, 09/03/2020 1093 Tue, 07/03/2023 484.00 5.15   Wed, 18/03/2020 1094 Fri, 17/03/2023 294.00 5.15 5. Targeted Long Term Repo Operations^ Fri, 27/03/2020 1092 Fri, 24/03/2023 12,236.00 4.40   Fri, 03/04/2020 1095 Mon, 03/04/2023 16,925.00 4.40   Thu, 09/04/2020 1093 Fri, 07/04/2023 18,042.00 4.40   Fri, 17/04/2020 1091 Thu, 13/04/2023 20,399.00 4.40 6. Targeted Long Term Repo Operations 2.0^ Thu, 23/04/2020 1093 Fri, 21/04/2023 7,950.00 4.40 7. On Tap Targeted Long Term Repo Operations€ Mon, 22/03/2021 1095 Thu, 21/03/2024 5,000.00 4.00   Mon, 14/06/2021 1096 Fri, 14/06/2024 320.00 4.00   Mon, 30/08/2021 1095 Thu, 29/08/2024 50.00 4.00   Mon, 13/09/2021 1095 Thu, 12/09/2024 200.00 4.00   Mon, 27/09/2021 1095 Thu, 26/09/2024 600.00 4.00   Mon, 04/10/2021 1095 Thu, 03/10/2024 350.00 4.00 8. Special Long-Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) for Small Finance Banks (SFBs)£ Mon, 17/05/2021 1095 Thu, 16/05/2024 400.00 4.00 Tue, 15/06/2021 1095 Fri, 14/06/2024 490.00 4.00 Thu, 15/07/2021 1093 Fri, 12/07/2024 750.00 4.00 Tue, 17/08/2021 1095 Fri, 16/08/2024 250.00 4.00 Wed, 15/09/2021 1094 Fri, 13/09/2024 150.00 4.00 D. Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF) Availed from RBI$       23,995.80   E. Net liquidity injected from outstanding operations [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     -7,60,763.20   F. Net liquidity injected (outstanding including today’s operations) [injection (+)/absorption (-)]*     -7,66,173.20   G. Cash Reserves Position of Scheduled Commercial Banks      (i) Cash balances with RBI as on 10/10/2021 6,23,379.07     09/10/2021 6,28,179.87        (ii) Average daily cash reserve requirement for the fortnight ending 22/10/2021 6,30,289.00   H. Government of India Surplus Cash Balance Reckoned for Auction as on¥ 08/10/2021 0.00   I. Net durable liquidity [surplus (+)/deficit (-)] as on 24/09/2021 12,05,314.00   @ Based on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) / Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL). – Not Applicable / No Transaction. ** Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 2 to 14 days tenor. @@ Relates to uncollateralized transactions of 15 days to one year tenor. $ Includes refinance facilities extended by RBI. & As per the Press Release No. 2019-2020/1900 dated February 06, 2020. * Net liquidity is calculated as Repo+MSF+SLF-Reverse Repo. # As per the Press Release No. 2020-2021/287 dated September 04, 2020. ^ As per the Press Release No. 2020-2021/605 dated November 06, 2020. € As per the Press Release No. 2020-2021/520 dated October 21, 2020, Press Release No. 2020-2021/763 dated December 11, 2020, Press Release No. 2020-2021/1057 dated February 05, 2021 and Press Release No. 2021-2022/695 dated August 13, 2021. ¥ As per the Press Release No. 2014-2015/1971 dated March 19, 2015. £ As per the Press Release No. 2021-2022/181 dated May 07, 2021. ~ As per the Press Release No. 2021-2022/177 dated May 07, 2021. ψ As per the Press Release No. 2021-2022/323 dated June 04, 2021. Ajit Prasad Director    Press Release: 2021-2022/1021

April 14, 2015

Dear All

Welcome to the refurbished site of the Reserve Bank of India.

The two most important features of the site are: One, in addition to the default site, the refurbished site also has all the information bifurcated functionwise; two, a much improved search – well, at least we think so but you be the judge.

With this makeover, we also take a small step into social media. We will now use Twitter (albeit one way) to send out alerts on the announcements we make and YouTube to place in public domain our press conferences, interviews of our top management, events, such as, town halls and of course, some films aimed at consumer literacy.

The site can be accessed through most browsers and devices; it also meets accessibility standards.

Please save the url of the refurbished site in your favourites as we will give up the existing site shortly and register or re-register yourselves for receiving RSS feeds for uninterrupted alerts from the Reserve Bank.

Do feel free to give us your feedback by clicking on the feedback button on the right hand corner of the refurbished site.

Thank you for your continued support.

Department of Communication

Reserve Bank of India

Next

April 14, 2015

Dear All

Welcome to the refurbished site of the Reserve Bank of India.

The two most important features of the site are: One, in addition to the default site, the refurbished site also has all the information bifurcated functionwise; two, a much improved search – well, at least we think so but you be the judge.

With this makeover, we also take a small step into social media. We will now use Twitter (albeit one way) to send out alerts on the announcements we make and YouTube to place in public domain our press conferences, interviews of our top management, events, such as, town halls and of course, some films aimed at consumer literacy.

The site can be accessed through most browsers and devices; it also meets accessibility standards.

Please save the url of the refurbished site in your favourites as we will give up the existing site shortly and register or re-register yourselves for receiving RSS feeds for uninterrupted alerts from the Reserve Bank.

Do feel free to give us your feedback by clicking on the feedback button on the right hand corner of the refurbished site.

Thank you for your continued support.

Department of Communication

Reserve Bank of India

Next

Government of India (GOI) has announced the sale (re-issue) of three dated securities for a notified amount of ₹24,000 crore as per the following details:

Sr No	Security	Date of Repayment	Notified Amount (₹ crore)	GoI specific Notification	Auction Date	Settlement Date
1	6.10% GS 2031	July 12, 2031	13,000	F.No.4(3)-B(W&M)/2021 dated October 08, 2021	October 14, 2021 (Thursday)	October 18, 2021 (Monday)
2	GOI FRB 2034*	Oct 30, 2034	4,000
3	6.76% GS 2061	Feb. 22, 2061	7,000
	Total		24,000
*The base rate for the coupon payment for the period August 30, 2021 to October 29, 2021 for GOI FRB 2034 shall be 3.47 per cent per annum.

2. GoI will have the option to retain additional subscription up to ₹2,000 crore each against one or more security/ies mentioned above.

3. The securities will be sold through Reserve Bank of India Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai – 400001.The sale will be subject to the terms and conditions spelt out in the ‘Specific Notification’ mentioned above and the General Notification F.No.4(2)–W&M/2018, dated March 27, 2018.

4. The auction will be conducted using uniform price method for 6.10% GS 2031, GOI FRB 2034 and multiple price method for 6.76% GS 2061. Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on October 14, 2021 (Thursday). The non-competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. and the competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. The result will be announced on the same day and payment by successful bidders will have to be made on October 18, 2021 (Monday).

5. Bids for underwriting of the Additional Competitive Underwriting (ACU) portion can be submitted by ‘Primary Dealers’ from 9.00 a.m. up to 9.30 a.m. on October 14, 2021 (Thursday) on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system.

6. The Stocks will be eligible for “When Issued” trading for a period commencing from October 11, 2021 – October 14, 2021.

7. Operational guidelines for Government of India dated securities auction and other details are given in the Annex.

Ajit Prasad
Director   

Press Release: 2021-2022/1017

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ANNEX

Type of Auction

1. For multiple price-based auction, successful bids will get accepted at the respective quoted yield/price for the security. For uniform price-based auction, bids will get accepted at the cut off yield/price accepted in the auction.

2. The auction will be yield based for new security and price based for securities which are re-issued.

3. In case of a Floating Rate Bonds (FRB), the auction will be spread-based for new security and price based for securities which are reissued. At the time of placing bids for new FRB, the spread should be quoted in percentage terms.

Minimum Bid Size

4. The Stocks will be issued for a minimum amount of ₹10,000/- (nominal) and in multiples of ₹10,000/- thereafter.

Non-Competitive Segment

5. In all the auctions, Government Stock up to 5% of the notified amount of sale will be allotted to the eligible individuals and institutions under the Scheme for Non-competitive Bidding Facility in the Auctions of Government Securities.

6. Each bank or Primary Dealer (PD) on the basis of firm orders received from their constituents will submit a single consolidated non-competitive bid on behalf of all its constituents in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system.

7. Allotment under the non-competitive segment to the bank or PD will be at the weighted average rate of yield/price of the successful bids that will emerge in the auction on the basis of the competitive bidding.

Submission of Bids

8. Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system.

9. Bids in physical form will not be accepted except in extraordinary circumstances.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)-IT failure

10. Only in the event of system failure, physical bids will be accepted. Such physical bids should be submitted to the Public Debt Office, Mumbai through (email; Phone no: 022-22632527, 022-22701299) in the prescribed form which can be obtained from RBI website (https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewForms.aspx) before the auction timing ends.

11. In case of technical difficulties, Core Banking Operations Team should be contacted (email; Phone no: 022-27595666, 022-27595415, 022-27523516).

12. For other auction related difficulties, IDMD auction team can be contacted (email; Phone no: 022-22702431, 022-22705125).

Multiple Bids

13. An investor can submit more than one competitive bid in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system.

14. However, the aggregate amount of bids submitted by a person in an auction should not exceed the notified amount of auction.

Decision Making Process

15. On the basis of bids received, the Reserve Bank will determine the minimum price up to which tenders for purchase of Government Stock will be accepted at the auctions.

16. Bids quoted at rates lower than the minimum price determined by the Reserve Bank of India will be rejected.

17. Reserve Bank of India will have the full discretion to accept or reject any or all bids either wholly or partially without assigning any reason.

Issue of Securities

18. Issue of securities to the successful bidders will be by credit to Subsidiary General Ledger Account (SGL) of parties maintaining such account with Reserve Bank of India or in the form of Stock Certificate.

Periodicity of Interest Payment

19. Interest on the Government Stock will generally be paid half-yearly other than in case of securities with non-standard maturities. The exact periodicity of coupon payment is invariably mentioned in the specific notification for the issue of security.

Underwriting of the Government Securities

20. The underwriting of the Government Securities under auctions by the ‘Primary Dealers’ will be as per the “Revised Scheme of Underwriting Commitment and Liquidity Support” announced by the Reserve Bank vide circular RBI/2007-08/186 dated November 14, 2007 as amended from time to time.

Eligibility for Repurchase Transactions (Repo)

21. The Stocks will eligible for Repurchase Transactions (Repo) as per the conditions mentioned in Repurchase Transactions (Repo) (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018 (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018 as amended from time to time.

Eligibility for ‘When Issued’ Trading

22. The Stocks will be eligible for “When Issued” trading in accordance with the guidelines on ‘When Issued transactions in Central Government Securities’ issued by the Reserve Bank of India vide circular No. RBI/2018-19/25 dated July 24, 2018 as amended from time to time.

Investment by Non-Residents

23. Investments by Non-Residents are subject to the guidelines on ‘Fully Accessible Route’ for Investment by Non-residents in Government Securities and Investment by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) in Government Securities: Medium Term Framework (MTF).

April 14, 2015

Dear All

Welcome to the refurbished site of the Reserve Bank of India.

The two most important features of the site are: One, in addition to the default site, the refurbished site also has all the information bifurcated functionwise; two, a much improved search – well, at least we think so but you be the judge.

With this makeover, we also take a small step into social media. We will now use Twitter (albeit one way) to send out alerts on the announcements we make and YouTube to place in public domain our press conferences, interviews of our top management, events, such as, town halls and of course, some films aimed at consumer literacy.

The site can be accessed through most browsers and devices; it also meets accessibility standards.

Please save the url of the refurbished site in your favourites as we will give up the existing site shortly and register or re-register yourselves for receiving RSS feeds for uninterrupted alerts from the Reserve Bank.

Do feel free to give us your feedback by clicking on the feedback button on the right hand corner of the refurbished site.

Thank you for your continued support.

Department of Communication

Reserve Bank of India

Next

Auction Results 4.26% GS 2023 5.63% GS 2026 6.67% GS 2035 6.67% GS 2050 I. Notified Amount ₹2000 Crore ₹6000 Crore ₹9000 Crore ₹7000 Crore II. Underwriting Notified Amount ₹2000 Crore ₹6000 Crore ₹9000 Crore ₹7000 Crore III. Competitive Bids Received         (i) Number 46 129 123 119 (ii) Amount ₹7415.293 Crore ₹19833.538 Crore ₹18366 Crore ₹13778 Crore IV. Cut-off price / Yield 99.81 99.62 98.85 94.47 (YTM: 4.3818%) (YTM: 5.7269%) (YTM: 6.7974%) (YTM: 7.1214%) V. Competitive Bids Accepted         (i) Number 19 33 60 72 (ii) Amount ₹1997.934 Crore ₹5993.435 Crore ₹8987.069 Crore ₹6991.202 Crore VI. Partial Allotment Percentage of Competitive Bids 5.73% 98.68% 96.60% 12.40% (1 Bid) (5 Bids) (5 Bids) (1 Bid) VII. Weighted Average Price/Yield 99.81 99.62 98.85 94.90 (WAY: 4.3818%) (WAY: 5.7269%) (WAY: 6.7974%) (WAY: 7.0847%) VIII. Non-Competitive Bids Received         (i) Number 3 5 5 4 (ii) Amount ₹2.066 Crore ₹6.565 Crore ₹12.931 Crore ₹8.798 Crore IX. Non-Competitive Bids Accepted         (i) Number 3 5 5 4 (ii) Amount ₹2.066 Crore ₹6.565 Crore ₹12.931 Crore ₹8.798 Crore (iii) Partial Allotment Percentage 100% (0 Bids) 100% (0 Bids) 100% (0 Bids) 100% (0 Bids) X. Amount of Underwriting accepted from primary dealers ₹2000 Crore ₹6000 Crore ₹9000 Crore ₹7000 Crore XI. Devolvement on Primary Dealers 0 0 0 0 Ajit Prasad Director    Press Release: 2021-2022/1016

Today, the Reserve Bank released the web publication ‘Basic Statistical Return on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) in India – March 2021’1 on its Database on Indian Economy (DBIE) portal (web-link: https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=publications#!19). The publication provides information on various characteristics of bank credit, based on data submitted by SCBs (including Regional Rural Banks) under the annual Basic Statistical Return (BSR) – 1 system, which collects information on type of account, organisation, occupation/activity and category of the borrower, district and population group of the place of utilisation of credit, rate of interest, credit limit and amount outstanding2. Main Findings: Bank branches in urban, semi-urban and rural areas recorded double-digit credit growth during 2020-21 whereas metropolitan branches, which accounted for 61.2 per cent of total bank credit, recorded 1.4 per cent growth. Personal loans continued to grow at robust pace over the last decade and their share in outstanding bank credit increased to 25.9 per cent in March 2021 from 16.4 per cent ten years ago – it recorded double-digit growth in all the years during the interregnum. Industrial loan growth, which has been decelerating during the last decade, turned negative for the first time during 2020-21 as economic activity slowed down in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic; working capital loans in the form of cash credit, overdraft and demand loans, which accounted for a third of total credit, contracted during 2020-21. The number of loan accounts with SCBs increased by 9.5 per cent during 2020-21 to 29.8 crore in March 2021; household sector3 accounted for 96.6 per cent of these accounts and held 53.7 per cent of the outstanding credit amount. Private sector banks recorded higher loan growth when compared to other bank groups: their share in total credit has steadily increased to 35.4 per cent in March 2021 from 20.8 per cent in March 2015 at the cost of public sector banks, whose share has come down from 71.6 per cent to 56.5 per cent over the same period. As the number of small-sized loan accounts with banks has been increasing over the years to meet personal loan and other requirements of smaller borrowers, the average size of bank loan account has gradually declined to ₹3.7 lakhs in March 2021 from ₹4.8 lakhs in March 2015; the decline in the average loan size in metropolitan branches of banks has been sharper from ₹13.5 lakhs to ₹7.7 lakhs over the same period. Interest rates on bank loans declined further during 2020-21; the share of loans bearing less than 9 per cent interest rate was 60.7 per cent in March 2021 vis-a-vis 42.1 per cent in March 2020 and only 16.4 per cent in March 2019. Credit utilisation in southern region of the country has been rising continuously and its share in total credit increased to 30.1 per cent in March 2021 from 27.5 per cent five years earlier; it surpassed the western region, whose credit share declined from 32.4 per cent to 28.8 per cent over this period. (Yogesh Dayal)      Chief General Manager Press Release: 2021-2022/1013