Non-food credit offtake from banks grew by 18.5% to over Rs 43.11 lakh crore in the 12 months to November 4, in spite of high interest rate regime in the economy.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, credit offtake during the period stood at Rs 43.11 lakh crore, as against Rs 36.36 lakh crore during the 12 months to November 5, 2010.
However, this is the first time since August that the year-on-year credit growth has fallen below the 19% mark.
Meanwhile, deposits have risen to over Rs 58.12 lakh crore as of November 4 this year, as against Rs 49.57 lakh crore as of November 5, 2010.
According to experts, while borrowings by the industry and services sectors have been affected by high interest rates, the festive season has led sustained demand in the personal loans segment.
In its first quarterly monetary policy review for FY12 in July, the RBI had said that credit growth was likely to slow down as a result of its rate hikes.
The RBI said credit growth would be around 17-18% this fiscal, as against the earlier projection of 19%, while deposit growth has been pegged at 17%.
During FY10-11, bank credit offtake increased by 21.5%, while deposits grew by only 15.5%.
Corporate India has complained that frequent rate hikes have resulted in slowing down of investment and industrial growth.
Industrial growth slowed to a two-year low of 1.9% in September. The country's economic growth also slowed to 7.7% in the April-June period, the lowest rate in six quarters.
The Reserve Bank has raised key policy rates by 350 basis points through 13 hikes since March, 2010, to curb inflation, which has been above the 9%-mark since December last year. The rate of price rise stood at 9.73% in October.
