Credit growth to farm sector slows to 10.4% in March: RBI data

The bank credit growth to the agriculture sector slowed to 10.4% year-on-year for the fortnight ended March 21, while advances to the industry remained flat at 8%, as per the RBI data released on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the data on sectoral deployment of bank credit collected from 41 select commercial banks, accounting for about 95% of the total non-food credit deployed by all banks taken together.

Credit to agriculture and allied activities registered a growth of 10.4% (y-o-y) as of the fortnight ended March 21, 2025, against 20% in the corresponding fortnight of the previous year.

"Credit to industry expanded by 8.0% (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended March 21, 2025, same as in the corresponding fortnight of the previous year," the RBI said.

Among major industries, outstanding credit to 'petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels', 'basic metal and metal products', 'all engineering' and 'construction' recorded an accelerated y-o-y growth. However, credit growth in the infrastructure segment decelerated.

Bank loans to the services sector increased by 13.4% as of the fortnight ended March 21, 2025, (20.8% in the corresponding fortnight of the previous year), primarily due to decelerated growth in credit to NBFCs.

Credit growth (y-o-y) to 'professional services' and 'trade' segments remained robust.

Further, the credit to personal loans segment registered a growth of 14% compared to 17.6% a year ago, largely due to a decline in growth in ‘other personal loans’, ‘vehicle loans’ and ‘credit card outstanding’.

On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, non-food bank credit as of the fortnight ended March 21, 2025, grew by 12% compared to 16.3% during the corresponding fortnight of the previous year (March 22, 2024), the RBI said.