A chocolate nudge can serve a public purpose

livemint.com:

₹12 trillion at the end of the first quarter of 2023-24, up 16.5% from the same three months the previous year. All loans counted, SBI’s assets stood at a little over ₹33 trillion.

Retail-led asset growth has been the sector’s broader story too. This has been so for many years now.

At one time, people had EMIs for home and car loans. Now they have monthly instalments for everything from family holidays and wedding parties to all manner of big-ticket purchases.

While banks lend money in whichever segment demand shows up, and retail lending does help the economy by supporting consumption, it is still disappointing that classic corporate credit has not yet staged a big enough comeback to signal stronger longer-term economic growth prospects. Businesses typically borrow to fulfil working-capital needs, but a business loan boom could also signal a revival in private investment of the magnitude needed for the government’s ‘crowd in’ plan to finally be called a success, allowing a sharp fiscal pull-back without endangering growth.