Retail loans moderate for the 10th straight month

Bank lending to the retail sector continued to moderate for the tenth straight month in May (to 17.8% from 19.1 percent in the same period a year ago) over the previous comparable period according to the latest data released by the Reserve bank of India on Friday.

While corporate loans grew faster at 8.9 percent over the same period a year ago from 6 percent in May 2023.

On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit2 registered a growth of 16.2 per cent in May 20243 as compared with 15.5 per cent a year ago.

Retail loan growth moderated to 17.8 per cent (y-o-y) in May 2024 from 19.1 per cent a year ago, primarily due to decelerated growth in ‘other personal loans’. Credit growth to ‘housing’, the largest constituent of the segment, accelerated, the Reserve Bank said in its latest release on sectoral deployment of bank credit on Friday.

Credit to industry grew by 8.9 per cent (y-o-y) in May 2024 as compared with 6.0 per cent in May 2023. Among major industries, credit growth (y-o-y) to ‘all engineering’, ‘chemicals and chemical products’, ‘food processing’, ‘infrastructure’, and ‘textiles’ accelerated in May 2024. However, credit growth to ‘basic metal and metal product’ and ‘petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels’ decelerated.

Credit growth to the services sector was robust at 20.7 per cent (y-o-y) in May 2024 (21.3 per cent a year ago), supported by improved credit growth in ‘commercial real estate’ ‘transport operators’ and ‘professional services’. Credit growth to ‘non-banking financial companies (NBFCs)’ however moderated in May 2024 as compared with May 2023, RBI dat showed.

Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 21.6 per cent (y-o-y) in May 2024 from 16.0 per cent a year ago.