Banks' business growth little changed in June: RBI

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India banks' growth in deposits and loans was sluggish in the month to June 15, the Reserve Bank of India said on Wednesday.

Banks' deposits grew a meagre 0.9 percent in the month to June 15 at 61.1 trillion rupees, while advances grew only 1.4 percent in the same period.

"Deposit growth has come down mainly due to slow money supply growth and liquidity shortage due to outflow of dollars. If there are no funds, then credit and investments will also not grow much," said Arun Kaul, Chairman and Managing Director, UCO Bank.

Money supply growth as on June 15 fell to 13.8 percent, from 17.3 percent in the year ago period.

In the fortnight to June 15, deposits fell 0.4 percent or 236.3 billion rupees, while advances moved up marginally by 0.1 percent or 246.6 billion rupees.

Banks' investment in government securities grew 1.1 percent in the month to June 15 at 18.4 trillion rupees, in the absence of robust demand for loans.

On a year-on-year basis, deposits were up 14.3 percent, and advances grew 17.8 percent.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta and Suvashree Dey Choudhury; Editing by Anand Basu)