Industrial credit growth remained flat during FY20

Share of female borrowers on the rise

MUMBAI: The industrial credit during the financial year ending March 31, 2020 (FY20) has recorded a meagre 0.9 per cent resulting in the share of industrial credit falling from 33.1 per cent to 31.5 per cent.

The figures were released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and were collated from more than 1.25 lakh bank branches of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) – excluding Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

Further, the RBI release said the bank credit growth year-on-year (y-o-y) continued to decelerate across all population groups and stood at 6.3 per cent as in March 2020.

The release said the bank branches in rural areas, however, maintained double digit growth during the said period.

“Overall credit expansion has been supported by a robust growth in personal loans in the recent period: the share of individuals in total bank credit has increased to 40.1 per cent in March 2020 (37.4 per cent a year ago and 30.8 per cent five years ago) whereas that of the private corporate sector has declined,” the release added.

Within individuals, the share of female borrowers has been consistently on the rise, according to RBI. All bank groups recorded moderation in credit growth during 2019-20 though private sector banks continued to lead the growth.

The overall weighted average lending rate (WALR) on outstanding credit declined by 17 basis points during the quarter ended March 2020.