Non-food bank credit grows at 5.9% in December: RBI

Mumbai: Non-food credit growth of banks stood at 5.9 per cent in December 2020 as compared to 7 per cent in the same month of the previous year, RBI data showed. During the reporting month, growth in credit to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 9.4 per cent from 5.3 per cent in December 2019, the data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for December 2020, released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), showed.

Loans to industry contracted by 1.2 per cent as compared with 1.6 per cent growth, mainly due to contraction in credit to large industries by 2.4 per cent as compared with 1.8 per cent growth a year ago.

Credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 15.3 per cent as compared to 2.5 per cent a year ago; and credit to micro and small industries registered an accelerated growth of 1.2 per cent in the reporting month as compared to 0.1 per cent a year ago, the data showed.


Within industry, credit to food processing, gems and jewellery, petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels, leather and leather products, paper and paper products, mining and quarrying, glass and glassware and wood and wood products registered accelerated growth in December 2020 as compared to the growth in the corresponding month of the previous year.

However, credit growth to rubber plastic and their products, cement and cement products, all engineering, beverages and tobacco, infrastructure, basic metal and metal products and construction decelerated/contracted, RBI said.

Personal loans registered a decelerated growth of 9.5 per cent in the reporting month as compared with 15.9 per cent growth in December 2019.

Vehicle loans continued to perform well registering an accelerated growth of 7.8 per cent in December 2020 as compared to 7.2 per cent a year ago.

Growth in advances to the services sector accelerated to 8.8 per cent in December 2020 from 6.2 per cent in December 2019 mainly on the back of acceleration in credit growth to transport operators and trade, the data showed.