"I am not saying there is any cause for alarm or they (NPAs in housing loans) are rising at a fast pace... as of now there is no cause for concern but there is definitely a cause to think, plan and act," SBI chairman O P Bhatt said.

Non-performing assets are rising in housing loan sector, he said, cautioning it could spill over to other sectors like commercial real estate and SMEs.

"Whenever economics like this come one way or the other...there is a lagged effect which has certain consequences. It is prudent to take note and act," he said.

He, however, said there was no constraint of availability of loans for viable projects but pricing could be an issue. Bhatt also said the bank would have to raise more than Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in capital this year to meet requirements.

"We need capital upwards of Rs 10,000 crore," he said. But "we have not decided how we are going to raise it. We will decide only after our results are out," he said.

On the timeline for the follow-on offer to raise funds, Bhatt said the nature of the offer would be decided after the amendments in Associate Banks Act.

The SBI chairman said his outlook on growth for the new fiscal was very good but bank credit could further slow down to about 25 per cent.

"We are budgeting a loan growth of 25 per cent and a deposit growth of 20 per cent," Bhatt said. Last year, bank credit was at 28 per cent, he added.

On rise in NPAs, Bhatt said though he did not have supporting data, there has been some rise in NPAs in the home loan sector. Bhatt said growth in certain sectors led to instant inequality and there were large number of people who did not benefit from it.