Bank credit to industry rose 8.5% in March 2024 compared to 5.6% a year ago while personal loans saw a moderation, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday.

Credit growth to personal loans segment moderated to 17.7% in March 2024 from 21% in the year-ago period. This was due to decelerated growth in vehicle and other personal loans.

Incidentally, the RBI had increased the risk weights in November 2023 for consumer credit exposure of commercial banks (outstanding as well as new)

"Among major industries, growth in credit (year-on-year) to 'chemicals and chemical products', 'food processing', and 'infrastructure' accelerated in March 2024 as compared with the corresponding month of the previous year, while that to 'basic metal and metal products' moderated," the RBI said.

Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities was robust at 20.1% in March 2024 versus 15.4% a year ago, according to the data on 'Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit -- March 2024'.

Further, credit growth to services sector improved to 20.2% from 19.6% in March last year, with higher growth in credit to "transport operators" and "commercial real estate".

The RBI data showed that credit growth to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and trade decelerated in March 2024 as compared with March 2023.

On a year-on-year basis, non-food bank credit registered a growth of 16.3% in March 2024 compared to 15.4% a year ago.

The bank credit data, the RBI said, is collected from 41 select banks, accounting for about 95% of the total non-food credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks.