SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said sliding gold prices will not have much impact on his bank’s gold loan portfolio, which currently stands at Rs 35,000 crore.

A chunk of the gold loans have been taken by farmers for agriculture purposes. Generally, the bank has been lending only up to 70 per cent of the peak value of the gold. “We have the security of the crop or farm. Generally, we keep 30 per cent margin and we will have to review that valuation. So, loan-to-value ratio of 70 per cent may come down.”

“We would be revising our advisory for gold loans with the valuations. So, as of now there is no immediate impact of the drop in gold prices.... If it further falls then it might be an issue,” said Chaudhuri.

An increase in corporate loans helped State Bank of India clock 21 per cent growth in loans in 2012-2013, according to the Chairman.

21% loan growth

Loan growth was at 21 per cent (against 16.5 per cent in FY12) as corporate demand surged especially during late February and March this year, he said. “We ended the year with a deposit growth of close to 15 per cent (14.88 per cent) entirely on account of retail deposits. Our bulk deposits have reduced to 1 per cent from 4.5 per cent (of total deposits). “Had we retained the bulk deposits, the overall deposit growth would have been higher,” he added.

The SBI chief said that the bank is not willing to risk lowering its deposit rate any further.

Home loans grew 30 per cent with an average ticket size of Rs 15- 20 lakh. Takeover of home loans from other banks accounted for 25 per cent of the home loan growth in FY13. Auto loans increased 25 per cent, the Chairman said.

For FY13, margins were at around 3.70-3.75 per cent.

>beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in

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