The banking sector reported a higher credit growth in the first month of the fiscal 2024, led by an increase in advances to the agriculture sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit grew 15.3 per cent in April, compared to a growth of 16.2 per cent a year ago. 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. Loans to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 19.7 per cent in April 2024 from 16.8 per cent a year ago, the RBI’s Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit for April 2024 showed. The growth in the personal loans segment moderated to 17.4 per cent from a rise of 19.4 per cent a year ago, primarily due to lower growth in vehicle loans. The moderation came despite accelerated growth in credit to housing (17.7 per cent compared to 13.9 per cent). Bank credit to industry rose by 6.9 per cent in April this year compared with 7.2 per cent in a year ago period. Credit to services sector grew 19.2 per cent in the reporting month April 2024 compared to 21.3 per cent a year ago. The growth in the segment was supported by improved credit growth to commercial real estate and professional services. Credit growth to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and trade, however, decelerated in April 2024 by 14.6 per cent as compared with 29.2 per cent in April 2023, the RBI data showed.
