RBI data show decline in credit flow to agriculture

There has been a significant pick up in credit flow to industry, services and personal loan segments during the current financial year. However, credit flow to agriculture has declined further, data released by the Reserve Bank of India as part of Macroeconomic and Monetary Developments Second Quarter Review 2010-11 shows. While credit flow to industry was highest at Rs 1,07,386 crore, credit flow to agriculture contracted by Rs 13,481 crore during the first six months of this fiscal, according to data on sector wise deployment of credit. Though the credit flow to industry has improved, it is not yet broad-based, RBI said. The credit growth is mainly driven by flow of credit to infrastructure, iron and steel, chemicals and chemical products, other metal and metal products and engineering industries. Infrastructure cornered the largest share of credit with Rs 87,499 crore flowing into the sector in the period between April-September 24, as against Rs 48,659 crore in the same period last year. Credit contracted to sectors such as petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuel and the construction industry. In the personal loans segment, there was a pick-up in housing loans with banks lending Rs 16,195 crore in the first six months of this year, substantially higher than Rs 7,891 crore in the corresponding year-ago period. Loans for consumer durables also saw a pick-up in the period under consideration. Education loans saw some slowdown with banks lending Rs 4,060 crore during the year, as against Rs 4,557 crore in the year-ago period. In the services segment, credit to commercial real estate saw a huge jump with banks lending Rs 9,604 crore to the sector. In the same period last year, banks had lent only Rs 1,766 crore to the sector. Credit to transport operators, professional services and non banking finance companies also witnessed an increase. However, credit for trade saw some slowdown this year. Under priority sector lending, banks lent Rs 19,343 crore to micro and small enterprises in the first six months of the year, a small dip from Rs 20,808 crore in the year ago period. According to bank-wise data on credit flow, the momentum in credit growth was seen across all public, foreign and private banks, with private banks showing the highest growth rate at the beginning of the third quarter of 2010-11. While public sector banks lent Rs 4,24,171 crore in the year as on October 8, private banks lent Rs 1,24,213 crore and foreign banks Rs 17,979 crore. Public sector banks accounted for 74 per cent of the incremental credit off take on a year-on year basis as of beginning October 2010, RBI said.