Non-food credit flows from banks up 23 per cent in January

Gross bank credit, excluding food credit, grew 23.0 per cent in January 2011 against a growth of 14.9 per cent in the corresponding period last year. During the first 10 months of the financial year (April-January 2010-11), gross non-food bank credit grew 14.6 per cent against 8.9 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Flow of bank credit to almost all sectors of the economy, except agriculture, recorded accelerated growth in January 2011, both on an year-on-year and financial year basis, Reserve Bank data released today showed.

Bank credit to industry grew 26.5 per cent year-on-year in January 2011 as compared with an increase of 20.1 per cent in the previous year. Among industry groups, credit flow  to infrastructure grew the most, followed by metals, engineering, food processing, rubber, plastics and their products and cement and cement products.

On a financial year basis (April 2010-January 2011), credit flow to industry grew 17.4 per cent against 15.5 per cent a year ago.

Credit to the service sector grew 23.5 per cent year-on-year in January 2011 against 14.2 per cent in the previous year. For the April-January 2010-11 period, credit flow to the service sector grew 16.5 per cent against an increase of 6.1 per cent during the corresponding period of the previous year.

Credit offtake by the commercial real estate (CRE) sector grew 19.9 per cent year-on-year in January 2011, which was significantly higher compared with a growth of 12.7 per cent in the previous year. On a financial year basis, credit growth to the CRE sector was 14.9 per cent as against a decline of 4.4 per cent a year ago, RBI said.