MUMBAI: India is planning to ask state-run banks to reach out to every district to expand lending to boost demand in the economy, the finance minister said, a move that comes at a time when most lenders are already seeing an increase in bad loans.
A similar exercise was undertaken in 2019-20 when the government ordered state-run banks to hold more than 400 loan fairs to spur growth that had started showing signs of weakness even before COVID-19 hit the country.
“There will be a credit outreach even this year in every district of the country,” Nirmala Sitharaman said in a news conference on Wednesday.
India has taken various measures to help revive the economy after two devastating waves of coronavirus infections that have led to a record economic contraction.
“In order to keep the momentum of the stimulus that we have given we have also asked the banks to go out and give to those that want to borrow from them,” Sitharaman said.
However, such a move could pile more stress on lenders. Domestic banks have struggled to contain bad loans, especially in their retail portfolios, as the pandemic and resultant lockdowns hit economic activity and limited borrowers’ ability to repay debt.
India’s largest lender State Bank of India posted a fourfold jump in slippages, or new bad loans, for the first quarter, ending in June, as its home loan and small business segments struggled.
India’s Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj told the same news conference the government could announce rules allowing companies to list overseas in the next budget in February.
India plans to ask state-run banks to expand lending to boost demand
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India plans to ask state-run banks to expand lending to boost demand
- Indian companies may be allowed to list overseas, says official
Savola Group profit falls 91% to $232m, board proposes $2.66m dividend
RIYADH: Saudi strategic investment holding firm Savola Group reported a net profit of SR874.5 million ($232 million) in 2025, down 91.23 percent from a year earlier, as the absence of one-off gains recorded in 2024 weighed on earnings.
According to a statement on Saudi Exchange, the decrease was primarily attributed to several non-recurring items recorded in 2024, as well as segment-level performance variations.
The decline in net profit was largely due to the absence of a one-off gain recorded in 2024 from the distribution of Savola Group’s 34.52 percent stake in Almarai Co. to eligible shareholders, valued at SR11.3 billion after a SR288 million zakat charge, the filing said.
Earnings were also affected by a lower contribution from associates following the absence of profit from the previously distributed Almarai investment, which had added SR782 million in 2024.
The statement said profit in the retail segment fell to SR115 million from SR154 million, mainly due to higher operating expenses linked to new store openings and continued investment in the CXR program. The decline was also attributed to the absence of a one-off SR16 million provision reversal on aged receivables recorded in 2024.
Operating expenses also increased in 2025 due to the consolidation of United Sugar Co. of Egypt, which had been accounted for as an associate in 2024.
Savola, which has a strong presence in the food and retail sectors across the Middle East and North Africa, also announced the board’s recommendation to distribute SR510 million in cash dividends for 2025.
A separate filing showed that the total number of shares eligible for dividends amounted to 300 million, with a dividend of SR1.7 per share. The statement added that dividends represent 17 percent of the share’s par value.
“These distributions are in line with the Group’s announced dividends policy, which is to distribute cash dividends of approximately 50 percent to 60 percent of the net profit generated during the fiscal year,” the Tadawul statement said.
Savola’s share rose about 9.2 percent during the day’s trading session on the Tadawul All Share Index, reaching SR23.93, after the company reported fourth-quarter profit above average market expectations.
