Bank credit to industry rises 10.2 pc in July: RBI data

Bank credit to industry strengthened significantly at 10.2 per cent in July 2024 compared with 4.6 per cent in the year-ago month, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

Credit to agriculture and allied activities remained robust, registering a growth of 18.1 per cent (y-o-y) in July 2024, compared with 16.7 per cent a year ago, according to the RBI's data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for July.

Among major industries, credit to chemicals and chemical products, food processing', petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels' and infrastructure' recorded a higher growth in July 2024 as compared to a year ago, while credit to basic metal and metal product', and textiles' moderated.

RBI further said credit growth to the services sector moderated to 15.4 per cent in July 2024 from 19.7 per cent a year ago, primarily due to relatively lower credit growth in non-banking financial companies' and trade' segments.

Growth in advances in commercial real estate', tourism, hotels and restaurants' and computer software' accelerated during July 2024.

RBI further said personal loan growth was lower at 17.8 per cent in July 2024 as compared to 18.4 per cent a year ago, largely due to moderation in growth recorded in other personal loans' and vehicle loans'.

However, credit growth to housing', the largest constituent of the segment, accelerated, it added.

Data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for July 2024 has been collected from 41 select commercial banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all banks.