Low-priced loan schemes introduced over nine months back have propelled State Bank of India (SBI) onto the top of the growth charts in several credit segments, piping the erstwhile leaders to the post. These sectors include home, auto, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), infrastructure and education segments. In some of the project finance areas, the bank has become a global leader.
“Especially in home loans it is important, because HDFC and ICICI Bank were the leaders earlier. Now, SBI is number one. In auto loans it used to be HDFC Bank, in infrastructure finance, there are specialised institutions like IDFC, IIFCL, in SME space there is SIDBI, but everywhere we are number one now,” said Om Prakash Bhatt, chairman of SBI, in an interview to M AIL T ODAY recently.
In the auto loan segment, SBI had gained 44 per cent to Rs 11,594 crore during the 12 months ending September 2009. During the last nine months, SBI entered into tieups with several car manufacturers and their dealers for providing auto finance.
Till recently, HDFC Bank was the leader in disbursing loans in this segment.
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The prospective homebuyers, who are looking to cobble together funds to buy an attractive property, now have every reason to cheer.