Share of Casa in total bank deposits rose to 44.8% in March 2022: RBI data

Seven states accounted for 63.3% of overall deposits; share of female holdings in incremental deposits more than doubled

The share of current and savings accounts (Casa) deposits of commercial banks has increased to 44.8 per cent as of March 2022-end, from 41.7 per cent three years ago, latest data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

Casa are low-cost deposits of banks, which are margin accretive. Casa deposits accounted for 60.9 per cent and 55.6 per cent of incremental deposits during 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively.

Interest rates on fixed deposits, which have begun rising recently, were quite low during the past few years as RBI followed an ultra loose monetary policy since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Consistent with the monetary and liquidity conditions, interest rates on term deposits moderated further during 2021-22; the share of term deposits bearing over six per cent interest rate came down to 14.4 per cent in March 2022 (31.0 per cent a year ago; 78.7 per cent two years ago),” RBI said.

Overall deposit growth moderated to 10.0 per cent year on year in March 2022, from 11.9 per cent a year ago. “Current, savings and term deposits increased by 10.9 per cent, 13.3 per cent and 7.9 per cent, respectively, during 2021-22,” RBI said.

Metropolitan branches of banks, which account for over half the total deposits, occupied a 51.5 per cent share in incremental deposits during 2021-22, as compared to 59.6 per cent in 2020-21.

“The household sector held the dominant share (62.6 per cent) in total deposits followed by non-financial corporations, general government, rest of the world and financial corporations, respectively,” RBI said.

Female depositors accounted for 19.8 per cent of total deposits in March 2022; their share in incremental bank deposits during 2021-22 rose to 34.3 per cent from 15.2 per cent in the previous year, the data showed.

General Government and financial corporations together accounted for over a fourth of the incremental deposits during 2021-22, up from 5.8 per cent the previous year. Large deposits (Rs 1 crore and above) have a near 40 per cent share in total term deposits.

Seven states – Maharashtra, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Gujarat – together accounted for 63.3 per cent of bank deposits.