Credit to industry rises 7.3 pc as on fortnight ended Feb 21: RBI data

Mumbai, Mar 27 (PTI) Credit to industry expanded by 7.3 per cent in the fortnight ended on February 21, 2025, compared with 8.4 per cent in the year-ago period, according to Reserve Bank data released on Thursday.

Among major industries, outstanding credit to 'petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels', 'all engineering', 'construction', and 'paper & paper products' recorded an accelerated y-o-y growth, it said.

Credit to agriculture and allied activities registered a growth of 11.4 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025 (20 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year).

RBI released the data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for February 2025 collected from 41 select banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks.

On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit as on the fortnight ended February 21, 20253 grew at 12 per cent as compared to 16.6 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year (February 23, 2024).

The data also showed that credit to services sector recorded a growth of 13 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025 (21.4 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year), with a decelerated growth in credit to ‘non-banking financial companies’ (NBFCs).

However, credit growth to ‘computer software’ accelerated and credit growth remained robust in ‘professional services’ and ‘trade’ segments.

Credit to personal loans segment registered a growth of 14 per cent as compared with 18 per cent a year ago, largely due to decline in growth rate in ‘other personal loans’, ‘credit card outstanding’ and ‘vehicle loans’ segments.