Non-food credit grows 5.7% in January, shows RBI data

Non-food bank credit grew at 5.7 per cent in January 2021 as against an increase of 8.5 per cent in January 2020, RBI data showed.

Continuing its uptrend, credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 9.9 per cent in January 2021 from 6.5 per cent in the year-ago month, the data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit January 2021, released by the Reserve Bank of India, showed.

Loans to industry contracted by 1.3 per cent in the reporting month as compared to 2.5 per cent growth last year in the same period mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries, the data showed.

Advances to medium industries registered a robust growth of 19.1 per cent in January 2021 as compared to 2.8 per cent a year ago and credit to micro and small industries registered a growth of 0.9 per cent as compared to 0.5 per cent a year ago.

Credit growth to the services sector decelerated moderately to 8.4 per cent in January 2021 from 8.9 per cent in January 2020.

However, credit to transport operators and trade continued to perform well during the month, registering accelerated growth.

Personal loans growth decelerated to 9.1 per cent in January 2021 from 16.9 per cent in January 2020.