Loan Demand Hike: Amid the boom in the real estate market, banks had to struggle a lot to meet the increasing demand for loans in the last two financial years. This situation has arisen due to the lack of large deposits with the banks. A report claimed that Infomerics Ratings, a credit assessment company, said in a report that Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) disbursed loans worth Rs 1,64,98,006 crore in the financial year 2023-24, which is the highest outstanding loan to date. However, in percentage terms, the growth rate of loans to deposits increased from 75.8 percent to 80.3 percent.

In the last five years, the loan growth rate has lagged behind the deposit growth rate.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin of April 2024, the incremental loan-deposit ratio (ICDR) was around 95.94 percent in March 2024, while it was 92.95 percent on March 8. According to the report, it can be seen that even every quarter, the loans of scheduled banks have increased much more than the growth of deposits. From the financial year 2018-19 to the financial year 2023-24, the growth of banks' loans outpaced the growth of deposits. It said that alternative investments in the unorganized sector, especially in rural areas, and an adequate cash base slowed down the pace of deposit collection.

The ratio of younger personal investors has increased continuously.
According to the report, the ratio of personal investors below the age of 30 has increased continuously. The share of youth in the registered investor base has increased from 22.6 percent in the financial year 2018-19 to 39.9 percent by the financial year 2024-25 (till July 31, 2024). This trend reflects the increasing interest in the equity market among young investors. According to the report, during the same period, the share of investors in the age group of 30-39 years remained relatively stable while the share of those above 40 years of age has decreased.

What do experts say
On the results of the report, Atul Monga, CEO and co-founder of BASIC Home Loan, said that banks and the government should try to increase the deposit ratio. He said that instead of chasing bulk corporate deposits, banks need to collect small deposits from common people. People should be motivated to invest through attractive schemes. Along with this, the government should also think about reducing the tax on interest received on deposits.