Bank deposits grow 17%, credit up 15%

Bank deposits grew 17 per cent year-on-year as on December 13 due to higher mobilisation, driven by the Reserve Bank's special swap window for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Banks) or FCNR (B) deposits.

The deposits stood at Rs 75,24,217 crore (Rs 75.24 trillion) on December 13, as against Rs 64,30,998 crore (Rs 64.3 trillion) during the same period last year, according to RBI's fortnightly data.

"Part of the growth in deposits can be attributed to the FCNR (B) flows through the RBI special window," a state-owned

bank's treasurer said.

On September 4, the Reserve Bank opened a special concessional window for banks to swap their FCNR (B) deposits.

The window, aimed at containing the rupee's fall, was open until November 30, when banks mobilised $26 billion of FCNR (B) deposits during the period.

Commercial bank credit grew at 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 57,01,328 crore (Rs 57.01 trillion) as on December 13, as against Rs 49,61,525 crore (Rs 49.61 trillion) in the same period last year.

The RBI's estimate of the banking system's credit growth for the current fiscal, 2013-14 is 15 per cent, while for deposits it is 14 per cent.