Mumbai, Sept. 21: Banks kept aside more capital against various risks during 2008-09 with their capital adequacy ratio increasing to 13.98 per cent from 13.01 per cent a year ago, as they became selective owing to the global financial crisis.
Private banks had higher capital adequacy ratio at 15.23 per cent during 2008-09 against nationalised banks’ 13.24 per cent.
Analysts said as banks slowed down their lending and became too selective in advancing loans to risk areas, capital adequacy ratio, which is the amount of capital that banks keep aside against various kinds of risks, showed a rising tendency.
As per the RBI report Profile of Banks 2008-09, the capital adequacy of ICICI Bank stood at 15.53 per cent compared to 13.97 per cent in the previous year.
Similarly, capital adequacy of HDFC Bank stood at 15.69 per cent in 2008-09 against 13.60 per cent in the previous year.
Among the state-run lenders, State Bank of India’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.25 per cent in 2008-09 against 13.54 per cent in 2007-08, while capital adequacy of Punjab National Bank was 14.03 per cent at the end of last fiscal against 13.46 per cent in the previous year.
Capital adequacy ratio of Canara Bank also rose to 14.1 per cent in 2008-09 against 13.25 per cent in 2007-08, while for Bank of Baroda, it stood at 14.05 per cent compared to 12.94 per cent in the previous year.
Overall, the capital adequacy ratio of nationalised banks rose to 13.24 per cent in 2008-09 against 12.13 per cent in the previous year while SBI and its associates banks increased to 13.96 per cent against 13.21 per cent in the previous year.
The capital adequacy ratio of foreign banks also rose to 14.30 per cent in 2008-09 against 13.08 per cent in the previous year.
Among the foreign banks, Citibank’s capital adequacy ratio increased to 13.23 per cent in 2008-09 compared to 12 per cent in the previous year while for Standard Chartered Bank, it rose to 11.55 per cent in the last fiscal compared to 10.59 per cent in the previous year.
The capital adequacy ratio of HSBC Bank also rose to 15.31 per cent in the last fiscal. — PTI