Coronavirus related worries likely to aggravate difficulties for Indian banks: Fitch

27 Mar 2020 Evaluate

Ratings agency Fitch has said that the coronavirus-related worries are likely to aggravate difficulties for Indian banks. It also revised down the operating environment score for the critical sector to BB from BB+ earlier, given the uncertainty surrounding the severity and duration of the pandemic, and the associated effects on India's banks of restrictions on economic activity.

According to the ratings agency, the lockdown will impact industrial production and domestic demand and this will exacerbate the economic slowdown of the past few quarters that was partly caused by weaker credit availability from non-bank lenders from September 2018. However, it said that the closed nature will help restrict the impact on economic growth in India as compared with Asian peers.

Fitch further said Indian banking system is under-capitalised and continues to saddled with bad loans, despite some successes. It also believed that the recent developments will add to these issues and slow the resolution process and it will further test the underwriting standards of those banks that expanded the fastest in recent years, including the private-sector banks, as the sharp disruption in economic activity will lead to worsening asset quality.

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