Market Directed Credit

As a result of the widening, the scope of the priority sector now includes direct housing loans up to Rs 10 lakh in urban areas; subscription to bonds issued by the National Housing Bank and Housing and Urban Development Corporation; micro credit extended by banks to individual borrowers through intermediaries; credit to NBFCs for on-lending to small road and water transport operators; and investment in venture capital.

In contrast to the pickup in credit to almost all sectors, agriculture and small-scale industries have fared poorly. Credit to small-scale industries actually fell in 1999-2000 by a massive 33 per cent.

Credit to agriculture increased by a modest 9.4 per cent, whereas that to