Due to the increasing competition for loans in urban areas, the focus of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) is more towards rural areas. Due to which the loans sanctioned in urban areas have come down by 3% year-on-year in the December quarter. Data released jointly by Finance Industry Development Corporation (FIDC) and credit information company CRIF Highmark shows. Rural and semi-urban areas grew by 13% and 19% respectively during this period.
Experts said that non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) are showing less interest in giving big loans. These include rural, tier-3 and tier-4 sectors, rather than being included in the very competitive urban market, said Pankaj Naik, associate director, India Ratings and Research Pvt Ltd.
Naik said that NBFCs are focusing more of their attention on vehicle loans and property loans. In fact, due to the Corona epidemic, the pace of businesses has slowed down, which has a direct effect in urban areas.
Education loans declined by 31% year-on-year to Rs 707 crore, as per FIDC-Crif High Mark data. Apart from this, loans from 1 to 3 years came down by 43% to Rs 6,992 crore. At the same time, secured business loans have fallen by 24% to Rs 925 crore in the three months since December. Non-bank lenders saw a growth of 5 per cent in the third quarter to ₹3.07 trillion and NBFCs are expected to see further improvement in the March quarter.
According to Mahesh Thakkar, Director General, FIDC, there are three reasons behind the increase in rural credit as compared to credit in urban areas. He said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, NBFCs saw massive credit demand from rural areas, as people from urban areas are avoiding taking fresh loans. NBFCs are keen on rural loans as competition with banks in urban areas has increased.