Bank retail lending moderates in December, farm and SME credit accelerates

Impact of Covid-19-induced economic disruption continues to linger, lenders say

Banks extended retail loans covering housing, vehicles, credit cards, etc worth Rs 18,840 crore in December 2020. The scale of lending in December was muted compared to volumes in Octoer and November 2020, when banks lent Rs Rs 39,780 crore and 33,107 crore respectively.

The business in these three months was marked by activity driven by the festive season and the start of busy season. Still, the impact of Covid-19-induced economic disruption continues to linger, bankers said.  

According to Reserve Bank of India data retail loans grew 9.5 per cent year-on-year basis in December 2020 as compared with 15.9 per cent growth in December 2019. The outstanding retail credit was Rs 26,63,439 crore.

RBI in a statement said the non-food credit growth (Y-o-Y basis) was 5.9 per cent in December 2020 as compared to seven per cent in December 2019. For agriculture and allied activities, growth accelerated to 9.4 per cent in December 2020 from 5.3 per cent in December 2019.

Credit to industry contracted by 1.2 per cent in December 2020 as against 1.6 per cent growth in December 2019. Credit to micro & small industries clocked growth of 1.2 per cent in December as compared to 0.1 per cent a year ago.