Rahul Shukla, Group Head, Commercial & Rural Banking, HDFC Bank, highlighted that agri financing business is seeing healthy growth and continued market share gains.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Shukla said, “There is a certain amount of positivity on the agri businesses that we see and farmers seem to be confident. This is also a business cycle where there will be a good level of overdraft utilisation towards the end of March. We remain positive and we look at our business.”

Elaborating on the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he shared that the industry is in good health owing to digitisation as well as government schemes. He mentioned that business churn and profitability are higher for the sector, whereas cash conversion cycles are shorter. Going ahead, he expects growth to be beyond normal.

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Shukla said, “The pandemic, the digitisation and GST, all of these have come together as a very strong positive for the sector. Today, the cash conversion cycles are shorter, stocking requirements are lower, business churn is higher so the profitability is higher. We have entered a secular phase in this industry which will see the above-normal profit cycle.”

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On the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS), he said that term loans have commenced under it. However, he wasn't sure how to articulate the GNPA situation under this scheme.

For the entire interview, watch the accompanying video

First Published:Feb 23, 2022 1:49 PM IST