Bank Credit Grew 7.10%; Deposits Up 10%: RBI

Banks' credit and deposits grew by 7.10% and 10.09% to Rs 99.47 lakh crore and Rs 130.08 lakh crore in the fortnight ended December 20, according to the latest Reserve Bank data.

In the year-ago fortnight, banks' advances stood at Rs 92.87 lakh crore, while deposits were at Rs 118.16 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight ended December 6, credit had grown by 7.91% to Rs 99.34 lakh crore and deposits had increased by 10.27% to Rs 131.05 lakh crore.

On a year-on-year basis, banks' credit growth slowed to 7.2% to Rs 86.73 lakh crore in November 2019 from 13.8% increase to Rs 80.93 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Loans to industry growth fell to 2.4% to Rs 27.72 lakh crore in November from 4% in the corresponding month of 2018.

During the month, credit to agriculture and allied activities slowed to 6.5% from 7.7% last year.

Advances to the services sector decelerated sharply to 4.8% from 28.1% last year. Personal loans grew at a marginally lower rate of 16.4% in November 2019 as compared to 17.2% earlier, according to the RBI data.

Rating agency Icra in a recent report said credit expansion may plummet to a six-decade low of 6.5-7% in 2019-20 compared to 13.3% in the previous financial year.