The overall bank credit growth continued to remain strong and has risen by 15.11 percent to Rs 92.87 trillion in the fortnight to December 21, while deposits grew 9.22 percent to Rs 118.18 trillion, show the latest RBI data.

In the year-ago fortnight, advances stood at Rs 80.68 trillion and deposits at Rs 108.21 trillion. In the previous fortnight ending December 7, advances

showed an encouraging trend with a growth of 15.07 percent at Rs 92.03 trillion and deposits clipping at 9.66 percent at Rs 118.84 trillion.

The continuing uptrend in credit demand may growth and employment and is likely to see further fillip with the special dispensation being allowed to MSMEs.

According to the financial stability report, released by the RBI over the weekend, credit growth on a year-on-year basis improved across bank groups between March and September 2018, largely driven by the private sector banks (from 21.3 percent in March 2018 to 22.5 percent in September 2018).

The performance of the state-run banks also saw an overall improvement with credit growth increasing to 9.1 percent in September 2018 from 5.9 percent in March 2018, as per the RBI data.

Public sector banks' deposit increased 5 percent in September 2018 from 3.2 percent in March 2018, the FSR report said. The RBI said, non-food bank credit increased by 13.8 percent in November 2018 compared to an increase of 8.8 percent in the same month last year.

The report further noted that advances to agriculture and allied activities rose 7.7 percent in November as against an increase of 8.4 percent in the year-ago month. Loans to the services sector expanded by 28.1 percent in the reporting month as compared with 14 percent in November 2017, it said.

First Published:Jan 2, 2019 7:42 PM IST