Bank credit grew by 9.7 per cent in March this year compared to 4.5 per cent a year ago, on the back of a pick up in credit to the industry, acceleration in credit to services and personal loan segments, and agriculture showing nearly double-digit credit growth.
Credit growth to industry picked up to 7.1 per cent in March 2022 from a contraction of 0.4 per cent in March 2021, according to RBI’s statement on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit.
Size-wise, credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 71.4 per cent in March 2022 as compared to 34.5 per cent last year.
Credit growth to micro and small industries accelerated to 21.5 per cent from 3.9 per cent and credit to large industries recorded a marginal growth of 0.9 per cent against a contraction of 2.5 per cent during the same period last year.
Credit growth to the services sector accelerated to 8.9 per cent in March 2022 as compared to 3.0 per cent a year ago, mainly due to significant improvement in credit growth to NBFCs and robust credit offtake in ‘trade’ and ‘transport operators’.
The personal loans segment continued to expand at a robust rate and grew by 12.4 per cent in March 2022 from 10.7 per cent in March 2021, per the RBI statement.
Credit to agriculture and allied activities continued to perform well, registering a growth of 9.9 per cent in March 2022 compared to 10.5 per cent in March 2021.