Housing loan outstanding expanded at a faster pace even as the growth in the personal loan segment decelerated on a year-on-year basis in May 2024. Credit growth to housing, the largest constituent of the personal loan segment, accelerated by 16.9 per cent, or Rs 3.40 lakh crore, to Rs 23.49 lakh crore in May 2024 as against a growth of 13.8 per cent at Rs 20.09 lakh crore a year ago, according to the Reserve Bank of India data.
However, the growth in personal loans 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 card outstanding rose by 26.2 per cent, or around Rs 55,000 crore, to Rs 2.67 lakh crore in May this year as against a growth of 31.5 per cent at Rs 2.12 lakh crore a year ago, RBI data shows.
In November 2023, the RBI had increased risk weight on the exposure of banks towards consumer credit, credit card receivables and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) by 25 per cent up to 150 per cent. The move was aimed to address build-up of any risks in these segments.
On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit registered a growth of 16.2 per cent to Rs 162.30 lakh crore in May 2024 as compared with 15.5 per cent a year ago, the RBI said.
Bank credit to industry grew by 8.9 per cent to Rs 36.87 lakh crore on a year-on-year basis in May 2024 as compared with 6.0 per cent in May 2023, according to the RBI data.
Loan outstanding by large industries showed a growth of 7.1 per cent to Rs 26.53 lakh crore as of May 2024 as against a growth of 4.6 per cent in May 2023 from Rs 24.77 lakh crore. Medium industries had a loan outstanding of Rs 3.13 lakh crore, showing a growth of 15.5 per cent in May this year as against a growth of 11 per cent a year ago. Credit outstanding of micro and small industries grew by 15.5 per cent to Rs 7.36 lakh crore from 9.9 per cent (Rs 6.37 lakh crore).
A medium enterprise is a unit where the investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed Rs 50 crore and turnover does not exceed Rs 250 crore. For small enterprises, these figures should be Rs 10 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively.
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, the RBI said. Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities accelerated to 21.6 per cent (y-o-y) to Rs 21.39 lakh crore in May 2024 from 16.0 per cent a year ago.
According to the RBI, credit growth to 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, decelerated in May 2024 as compared with May 2023.
