Non-food bank credit grows 9.9 pc in February

Non-food bank credit increased by 9.9 per cent in February, with agriculture and personal segments showing a healthy pickup, the Reserve Bank said today.
This is a marginal pick-up from the 9.8 per cent registered by the system in the month of January, 2016.
Credit to agriculture and allied activities increased by 13.5 per cent in February 2016, which was a dip from the 16.5 per cent witnessed during the same period last year, the RBI said in a press release.
Personal loans increased by 19.2 per cent, up from the 16.8 per cent grossed in February 2015, it said.

However, industry continued to be a worry, with credit growth in February slowing to 5.4 per cent as against 5.9 per cent in the year-ago period.
"Credit growth continues to decelerate or decline for most sub-sectors, some of which include petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels, beverage and tobacco and food processing," the RBI said.
For the services sector, the credit flow increased by 8.6 per cent in February, as against a 6.7 per cent growth for the same period last year, it said.
The data reflects the performance of 46 scheduled commercial banks, which account for 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed, the RBI said.