Banks loan growth at 7.5 pc in fortnight to Jan 2: RBI data

Banks credit grew by 7.57 per cent to Rs 100.44 lakh crore while deposits rose by 9.77 per cent to Rs 132.10 lakh crore in the fortnight to January 2, according to the Reserve Bank data.

In the year-ago period, banks loans stood at Rs 93.37 lakh crore while deposits at Rs 120.33 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight ended December 20, credit had grown by 7.10 per cent to Rs 99.47 lakh crore and deposits had increased by 10.09 per cent to Rs 130.08 lakh crore.

On a year-on-year basis, banks' credit growth slowed to 7.2 per cent to Rs 86.73 lakh crore in November 2019 from 13.8 per cent to Rs 80.93 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Foe the industry, loan growth fell to 2.4 per cent at Rs 27.72 lakh crore in November from 4 per cent in the corresponding month of 2018.

During the month, credit to agriculture and allied activities slowed to 6.5 per cent from 7.7 per cent last year.

Advances to the services sector decelerated sharply to 4.8 per cent from 28.1 per cent last year.

Personal loans grew at a marginally lower rate of 16.4 per cent in November 2019 as compared with 17.2 per cent, according to the RBI data.

Rating agency Icra in its recent report had said credit expansion may plummet to a six-decade low of 6.5-7 per cent in 2019-20 compared to 13.3 per cent in the previous financial year.