Kamal Ghorui
MUMBAI: A technical tweak in the way banks report fortnightly balance-sheet data may swell India’s credit numbers by more than Rs 2 lakh crore this year and lift measured loan growth by over a percentage point. The change concerns the date on which banks report credit and deposit figures to the RBI, a schedule that also determines the base used to calculate the cash reserve ratio, the share of deposits lenders must keep with the central bank.Until recently banks reported their “statement of position” every alternate Friday, known as the reporting Friday. From Dec 15, 2025, the RBI replaced this rotating schedule with fixed calendar cut-offs. Banks must now report data as on the 15th and the last day of each month. If the fortnight ends on a holiday, banks report the previous working day’s figures, though these still count for that fortnight.The shift aligns regulatory reporting with conventional accounting periods. Under the old system, the last reporting Friday for FY25 fell on March 28. Under the new rule, banks will report figures for March 31 in the current financial year, effectively capturing a few extra days of business at the close of the fiscal year.The change follows amendments to banking laws. In the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Rules 2025, Rule 15B was omitted, and sub-clauses in reporting forms were updated to shift frequency from “alternate Fridays” (roughly bi-weekly) to fixed dates. They were set at the 15th and last day of each month.Banks tend to accelerate lending toward the end of March to meet annual targets, and sometimes adjust balances for year-end reporting. “That additional lending period could artificially add about 1.5-2 percentage points to reported credit growth. After adjusting for the reporting-date change, reported growth could look closer to 13.5-14%,” said Karthik Srinivasan of credit rating agency Icra.
