Outgoing boss of India's SBI says credit growth is "unfinished agenda"

MUMBAI: Arundhati Bhattacharya, who ends four years at the helm of State Bank of India on Friday, said reviving lending in the country was one of the major tasks left unfinished.

"Even today credit growth is not where we wanted it to be," said Bhattacharya. "So that's an unfinished agenda. And I think the incoming chairman's already stated it will be his agenda to take that forward."

India's state banks, including SBI, the country's largest, have battled rising bad loans in recent years, a fight that has dampened credit growth and slowed a long-awaited economic revival.

But, Bhattacharya predicted better days ahead for the bank after a spike in sour debt in the last quarter due to a merger of its five subsidiaries with it.

"My promises were that you will see better numbers going forward and we will stick to those promises," she said.

Bhattacharya will be replaced by colleague and banking veteran Rajnish Kumar.

SBI shares were up 1.9 percent in afternoon trading on Friday, outperforming the broader market's 0.9 percent gain.