Bank credit to industry up 8.5% in March; moderation in personal loans: RBI

Bank credit to industry grew by 8.5 per cent annually in March while there was moderation in the personal loans segment, as per Reserve Bank data released on Tuesday.

The growth in credit to industry and personal loans segment in March 2023 was 5.6 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively.

"Among major industries, growth in credit (year-on-year) to 'chemicals and chemical products', 'food processing', and 'infrastructure' accelerated in March 2024 as compared with the corresponding month of the previous year, while that to 'basic metal and metal products' moderated," the RBI said.

Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities was robust at 20.1 per cent in March 2024 (15.4 per cent a year ago), according to the data on 'Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit -- March 2024'.

Personal loans growth moderated to 17.7 per cent in March 2024 (21 per cent a year ago) due to decelerated growth in vehicle loans and other personal loans, it said.

Further, credit growth to services sector improved to 20.2 per cent from 19.6 per cent in March last year, with higher growth in credit to "transport operators" and "commercial real estate".

The RBI data also showed that credit growth to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and trade, however, decelerated in March 2024 as compared with March 2023.

On a year-on-year basis, non-food bank credit registered a growth of 16.3 per cent in March 2024 as compared with 15.4 per cent a year ago.

The bank credit data, the RBI said is collected from 41 select banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks.