Russian bank loans to individuals up in March

MOSCOW, April 29 (Reuters) - Russian banks' total loans to individuals portfolio rose in March for the first time since January 2009 -- yet another sign the sector shifts to fragile growth after the worst crisis in a decade.

However, loans to individuals added only 0.3 percent while loans to firms remained flat the central bank's data showed on Thursday. It backed major banks' cautious forecasts that the demand for borrowings will remain weak this year right.

Russia's largest lender Sberbank SBER03.MM expects its total loan portfolio to increase by around 10 percent this year.

However the share of bad loans, still a key factor for the sector suffered heavy losses last year as provisions erased much of income, has still grew in March to 5.27 percent from 5.19 percent as of the end of February.

The banks almost doubled earnings in March to 116.7 billion roubles with a number of loss-makers dropped by 43 percent as several major players including Russian Standard bank, the privately owned leader in consumer lending were back to black in the first quarter. [ID:nLDE63S0R8]

(Reporting by Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Ron Askew)