The credit-deposit (C-D) ratio in NES is much lower at 34 per cent at the end of March 2010 than that of 73 per cent at the all-India level (Table 6). Even as credit expanded at a faster pace than deposits in the last decade, the gap remained very wide.
The credit penetration, as measured by the ratio of bank credit to the NSDP, in NES also remained significantly lower than the all-India level (Chart 1). This raises the question as to whether low credit penetration in NES was due to lack of absorptive capacity in the region.