Credit growth at tepid 3.7% in first 9 months of FY15: RBI

Bank credit grew at tepid 3.7 per cent rate during the first nine months of the past financial year at Rs 63,51,900 crore, according to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India today.
The number of borrowal accounts increased by 3.7 per cent to 12.2 crore in December 2014 from 11.7 crore in March 2014, according to the first quarterly data on Basic Statistical Return (BSR 1): Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), December 2014', released by RBI.
Rural and semi-urban centres registered higher growth in credit during the nine months of 2014-15 at 9.8 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively compared with lower growth observed in urban and metropolitan centres at 4.3 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

Small borrowal accounts each with credit limit up to Rs 2 lakh, constituting three-fourths of total number of borrowal accounts, had a share of 7.3 per cent in total outstanding credit in December 2014.
The share of credit to 'agriculture' sector in the gross bank credit decreased to 11.4 per cent in December 2014 from 12 per cent in March 2014, whereas for 'industry' sector the share increased marginally to 43 per cent from 42.7 per cent, RBI data showed.
The share of 'personal housing loans' increased to 9.4 per cent in December 2014 from 8.5 per cent in March 2014. The weighted average interest rate of all loans and advances declined to 11.85 per cent as at the end of December 2014 from 12.04 per cent as at end March 2014, the data showed.