Looking Ahead With Hope

The recently released Financial Stability Report (FSR) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows the resilience of the banking sector in general and NBFCs in particular.

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India’s financial sector comprising of both Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) have shown remarkable resilience in weathering the pandemic-induced storm in the credit market and the spill-over effects stemming from the global financial aftershocks of jumbo rate hikes by major central banks to tame elevated inflation. Equal credit for such a happy tiding in the fortunes of the financial market should go to the tight-fisted regulation by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the self-discipline being shown by the industry players who carefully avoided unwanted ebullience. More importantly, most players in the financial industry passed the stringent stress test done by the RBI, though some pockets of concerns still persist.

While the apex bank kept an 'Arjuna' eye on the financial sector’s lending practices and capital buffers, the industry on its part has left no stones unturned in its ongoing efforts to improve the asset quality and reducing sticky or non-performing assets (NPAs). Such an achievement is a rare feat indeed considering the macro-headwinds that have swept the financial firmament for the past two to three years; first by the Covid-19 pandemic and second by the pivot by major central banks to a tighter monetary policy leading to liquidity normalisation and higher interest rates.