Non-food credit up 4.9% in March: RBI

Mumbai: Non-food credit grew 4.9 per cent in March 2021 as against a growth of 6.7 per cent in the year-ago month, RBI data showed.

Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 12.3 per cent in March 2021 from 4.2 per cent in March 2020, the data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit March 2021, released by the Reserve Bank of India, showed Friday.

Advances to industry decelerated marginally to 0.4 per cent in March 2021 from 0.7 per cent last year.

However, credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 28.8 per cent in March 2021 as compared to a contraction of 0.7 per cent a year ago.

Loans to micro and small industries decelerated to 0.5 per cent in March 2021 from 1.7 per cent a year ago, while credit to large industries contracted by 0.8 per cent as compared to a growth of 0.6 per cent a year ago, the data showed.

Credit growth to the services sector decelerated to 1.4 per cent in March 2021 from 7.4 per cent in March 2020, mainly due to deceleration in credit growth to NBFCs and contraction in credit to professional services.

Credit to the trade segment, however, continued to perform well, registering accelerated growth of 11.8 per cent in March 2021 as compared to 4.6 per cent a year ago, RBI data showed.