RBI Data Shows Growth of Non-Food Bank Credit at 5.7% in April

Recent data from the RBI has disclosed that non-food bank credit grew at 5.7 per cent in April 2021 as against 6.7 per cent in the year-ago month.

The growth in advances to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 11.3 per cent in April 2021 as compared to a 4.7 per cent growth in April 2020, the data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit – April 2021, released by the Reserve Bank of India on Monday, showed.

Credit growth to industry decelerated to 0.4 per cent in April 2021 from 1.7 per cent in April 2020.

However, credit to medium industries registered a robust growth of 43.8 per cent in April 2021 as compared to a contraction of 6.4 per cent a year ago, the data showed.

Growth in loans to micro and small industries accelerated to 3.8 per cent in April this year as compared to a contraction of 2.2 per cent a year ago, while credit to large industries contracted by 1.9 per cent as compared to a growth of 2.7 per cent a year ago.

Within industry, credit to food processing; textiles; gems and jewellery; paper and paper products; glass and glassware; infrastructure; leather and leather products; and wood and wood products registered an accelerated growth in April 2021 as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, RBI data showed.

However, credit growth to mining and quarrying; beverages and tobacco; petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels; rubber, plastic and their products; vehicles; vehicle parts and transport equipment; basic metal and metal products; cement and cement products; all engineering, chemicals and chemical products; and construction decelerated.

Growth in loans to the services sector decelerated to 1.2 per cent in April 2021 from 10.6 per cent in April 2020, mainly due to deceleration in credit growth to NBFCs and marginal contraction in credit to transport operators, the data showed.

However, credit to trade segment continued to perform well, registering accelerated growth of 10.5 per cent in April 2021 as compared to 8.7 per cent a year ago.

The data showed that the personal loans registered an accelerated growth of 12.6 per cent in April 2021 as compared to 12.3 per cent a year ago, primarily due to accelerated growth in vehicle loans, loans against gold jewellery and credit card outstanding.