Credit to most sectors except agriculture slowed down in FY15: RBI data

MUMBAI: Credit to most sectors except agriculture slowed down through most of FY15, RBI data indicated. As a result overall growth in loans to individuals, farmers as well as businesses slowed to 9.4 per cent during April 2014-February 2015 compared to 14.7 per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

Credit to agriculture and allied activities increased by 16.5 per cent YoY in February 2015, as compared with 13.1 per cent increase in February 2014. While credit to industry increased by 6.0 per cent YoY in February 2015, down from 13.2 per cent in February 2014. Deceleration in credit growth to industry was observed in all major sub-sectors, barring beverages & tobacco and construction, an RBI release said.

Credit to the services sector increased by 7 per cent YoY in February 2015, lower than the increase of 17.1 per cent in February 2014, with deceleration observed in all major sub-sectors.

Credit to NBFCs increased by 7.1 per cent in February 2015 as compared with an increase of 14.7 per cent in February 2014. Retail loans which were showing some uptick in the earlier part of the fiscal too slipped. They rose 16 per cent YoY in February 2015 as compared with an increase of 16.5 per cent in February 2014.

Nabard Offers short-term Funds

Meanwhile, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) is willing to provide short-term liquidity support to farmers hit by natural calamities and consequent crop failure, a top executive at the lender said. “We will make available liquidity requirements of banks — regional rural banks and co-operative banks. They account for 30 per cent of share in agricultural credit,” Nabard chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said in the context of unseasonal rains in early March damaging crops in several states.