Private banks are growing aggressively at 62 per cent to eat into the Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) retail business market that has so far been dominated by the PSU banks.

PSU banks, led by State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, together posted 36 per cent growth in personal loans at over Rs 80,813 crore (Rs 808.13 billion) last year.

But private players led by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank and IDBI Bank logged 62 per cent growth and offered retail loans worth over Rs 11,743 crore (Rs 117.43 billion), banking sources said.

In the home loans category, PSU banks managed a respectable growth of 50.44 per cent at over Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion), but private banks outsmarted them with 58 per cent growth at Rs 3,437 crore (Rs 34.37 billion).

The significant growth of private banks can be attributed to aggressive marketing strategies and innovative products.

In consumer durable loans, private banks registered a marginal growth of 7.72 per cent at Rs 291 crore (Rs 2.91 billion) during 2003, while PSU banks witnessed nearly 15 per cent drop in credit at Rs 1,838 crore (Rs 18.38 billion), they said.

Private banks recorded significant rise in growth in rest of the personal loan category at 67 per cent, while PSU banks witnessed 26.84 per cent.

In absolute terms, rest of the personal loan category increased to nearly Rs 8,015 crore (Rs 80.15 billion) for private banks during 2003 as compared Rs 4,801.55 crore (Rs 48.01 billion) in the previous year, bankers said.