Banks that skirted India’s bad loans can’t escape coronavirus lockdown
Erosion in loan growth and quality due to the corona virus The final bastion in India's $1.6 trillion banking sector faces a test of its resilience as private lenders brace for an erosion in loan growth and quality due to the corona virus. Strongest private banks The nation's strongest private banks -- HDFC Bank Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and ICICI Bank Ltd. -- had skirted the shockwaves that struck the state-owned banks and the shadow lenders in recent years, and which have left those sectors struggling under mountains of bad debt. Effects of India's lockdown of its economy But after doling out nearly two-thirds of new lending in 2019, the private banks have been unable to escape the effects of India's lockdown of its economy, which is expected to devastate many of their retail and corporate customers. If they now respond by curtailing new loans even to healthy borrowers, that will have serious consequences for the Indian economy and the pace at whi