The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the banking sector recorded higher credit growth in the first month of FY24, led by an increase in advances to the agriculture sector.
On a year-on-year basis, non-food bank credit grow by 15. %3 in April compared with 16.2% growth a year earlier. In absolute terms, bank non-food credit stood at Rs 159.55 lakh Crore in April compared to Rs 138.38 lakh Crore in April 2023.
RBI’s sectoral deployment of bank credit for April 2024 showed that credit to agriculture and allied activities increased to 19.7% in April 2024 from 16.8% a year ago.
Growth in the personal loan segment declined to 17.4% from 19.4% growth a year ago, mainly due to lower growth in vehicle loans. This moderation came despite faster growth in credit to housing (17.7% compared to 13.9 percent).
Bank credit to industry grew by 6.9% in April this year, compared to 7.2% in the year-ago period.
In the month under review, April 2024, credit to the service sector increased by 19.2%, whereas it was 21.3% a year ago. Growth in this segment was supported by better loan growth in commercial real estate and professional services.
However, credit growth to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and business declined to 14.6% in April 2024 compared to 29.2% in April 2023, RBI data showed.
