KARACHI: Banks are earning profits, but they failing to mobilise deposits which fell between June and November 2011 and again in January 2012 after a marginal rise in December.

The State Bank reported on Tuesday that bank deposits, which were Rs5.599 trillion in June 2011, fell to Rs5.415 trillion in November.

The deposits again witnessed a big outflow of Rs192 billion in January after they rose to Rs5.874 trillion in December.

Bankers confirmed that efforts to mobilise deposits from private sector proved futile during the first seven months of the current fiscal year.

Banks collectively raised deposits by Rs83 billion during the seven months which is comparatively lesser than Rs463 billion raised during the same period of the previous year.

The inflation-hit economy, with poor growth rate, could hardly spare liquidity with minimum possible depositors which is also reflected from the shrinking number of accounts of small deposit holders, said a senior banker of a large private bank. read more