Core Insights - Companies are increasingly turning to bank loans due to elevated yields in the corporate-bond market [1] - The State Bank of India (SBI) reported over 13% year-on-year growth in wholesale advances, driven by sectors such as services, petroleum, and petrochemicals [1] - Economic activities have improved in the third quarter, attributed to GST rationalization, with a notable increase in working-capital drawing by companies [2] Company Performance - SBI has a loan pipeline of ₹7.9 trillion, which includes sanctioned but unutilized loans [1] - Bank of Baroda's wholesale books grew 8.1% year-on-year and 4.6% sequentially, aiming for 10% year-on-year growth by year-end [3] - Bank of India reported an 11% year-on-year growth in corporate books, with a corporate-loan pipeline of ₹65,000 crore [5] - Bank of Maharashtra experienced nearly 14.5% year-on-year growth in its corporate books in Q3 [5] Sector Trends - Credit to industry recorded a 13.3% year-on-year growth, with micro and small industries showing a sharp acceleration at 31% year-on-year [7] - Large private banks, including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, reported significant growth in their corporate books [8] - HDFC Bank reported 10.3% year-on-year growth, while Axis Bank showed the strongest growth at 27% year-on-year [9] Lending Dynamics - Much of the corporate lending is occurring at external benchmark-linked rates (EBLR), facilitating faster monetary transmission [10] - A report by SBI Research indicates that a decline in bank lending rates has narrowed the pricing gap with corporate-bond yields, prompting firms to shift back to banks [10]