Today, the Reserve Bank released its web publication entitled ‘Quarterly Basic Statistical Returns (BSR)-1: Outstanding Credit of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) - September 2023’ on its Database on Indian Economy (DBIE) portal¹ (web-link: https://dbieold.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=BsrPublications#!12). It captures various characteristics of bank credit such as occupation/activity and organisational sector of the borrower, type of account and interest rates based on account-level reporting². Data reported by 90 SCBs (excluding Regional Rural Banks) are presented for bank groups, population groups and states³.

Highlights:

• Bank credit growth (y-o-y) decelerated to 15.7 per cent, net of merger, in September 2023 (19.8 per cent, including the merger impact) from 18.0 per cent a year ago; rural and semi-urban branches of banks have, however, recorded accelerated credit growth.

• Loans to industry accounted for nearly one fourth of total bank credit; they increased by 8.6 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2023 (12.3 per cent a year ago); working capital loans growth has remained in double digits for the last six quarters.

• Bank lending to private corporate sector recorded robust growth and accelerated to 14.9 per cent (y-o-y) in September 2023 from 11.5 per cent a quarter ago and 14.7 per cent a year ago.

• The share of personal loans in bank credit has successively increased to over 30 per cent from 22 per cent share five years ago.

• The share of female borrowers in total bank credit as well as in loans to individuals has been rising in the recent period.

• Private sector banks continued to record faster credit growth when compared to public sector banks.

Ajit Prasad            
Director (Communications)

Press Release: 2023-2024/1400

¹ Banking aggregates based on fortnightly Form-A Return (collected under Section 42(2) of the RBI Act, 1934) for the last reporting Friday of September 2023 were published earlier at our website (Home>Statistics>Data Release>Fortnightly>Scheduled Bank's Statement of Position in India) and aggregate level monthly data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for September 2023, reported by select major banks, were also released on the website (Home>Statistics>Data Releases>Monthly> Data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit).

² Previous data release in the series, covering end-June 2023 position, was published on August 31, 2023 on RBI website.

³ Reference date for BSR-1 is last day of the quarter. These data include the impact of merger of a non-bank with a bank with effect from July 1, 2023.