Industry and services sectors see 20%-plus credit offtake growth

Industry and services sectors see 20%-plus credit offtake expansion Bank credit expansion accelerates sharply throughout major sectors in July 2026.

Key points

• Loans against gold jewellery rose 88.1% to Rs 5.52 lakh crore as of July 2026, compared with 136.4% a year ago.
• The micro and small segment registered 22.6% expansion to Rs 10.92 lakh crore, compared with 20.9% a year ago, according to RBI data.
• The personal loans segment, meanwhile, grew 16.2% year-on-year, up from 11.9% during the corresponding fortnight of 2025.
• The sharp acceleration points to a broad-based strengthening in credit demand, with industry, services, agriculture and personal loans all registering faster expansion than a year earlier.
• While lending to micro and small industries maintained steady expansion, within industry, credit expansion to both substantial and medium industries accelerated.

Bank credit expansion accelerated sharply throughout major sectors as of July 2026, with non-food bank credit expanding 19.1% year-on-year to Rs 219.60 lakh crore, almost doubling from the 9.9% expansion recorded during the corresponding period a year ago, according to data published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. Industry and services sectors. It indicated over 20% expansion in credit offtake, led the surge.

While the sizeable industry segment demonstrated a 17.7% expansion in credit offtake to Rs 32.28 lakh crore, compared with 1.6% a year ago, the medium segment noted a expansion of 30.5% to Rs 4.79 lakh crore, against 15% last year. The micro and small segment registered 22.6% expansion to Rs 10.92 lakh crore, compared with 20.9% a year ago, according to RBI data.

Notably, the sharp acceleration points to a broad-based strengthening in credit demand, with industry, services, agriculture and personal loans all registering faster expansion than a year earlier.

While lending to micro and small industries maintained steady expansion, within industry, credit expansion to both substantial and medium industries accelerated. The growth was spread throughout a number of major industrial segments.

While lending to basic metals and metal products, engineering, chemicals and chemical products, petroleum and coal products and nuclear fuels, and textiles additionally registered solid year-on-year expansion, infrastructure recorded buoyant credit expansion.

Notably, the sharp rise in industrial credit assumes significance as it comes against a backdrop of stronger overall economic activity and could indicate improving demand for working capital and investment financing by firms.

For context, the services sector recorded an even faster expansion. Bank credit to services grew 22.9% year-on-year in the July 31 fortnight, more than twice the 10.2% expansion registered in the same period last year, RBI data indicates.

In practice, the acceleration in services credit was backed by stronger lending to non-banking financial businesses (NBFCs), trade and commercial real estate. The growth in bank funding to NBFCs additionally comes as financial intermediaries continue to play a significant role in expanding credit to households and businesses.

In practice, the personal loans segment, meanwhile, grew 16.2% year-on-year, up from 11.9% during the corresponding fortnight of 2025. Housing and vehicle loans continued to sustain double-digit expansion, indicating that household demand for these forms of credit remained firm. Nevertheless, expansion in credit card outstanding and loans against gold jewellery moderated during the period.

Loans against gold jewellery rose 88.1% to Rs 5.52 lakh crore as of July 2026, compared with 136.4% a year ago. Credit card outstanding rose marginally by 2.3% to Rs 2.97 lakh crore. Housing credit expansion climbed by 11.3% to Rs 34.28 lakh crore, RBI noted.

Agriculture and allied activities additionally witnessed a substantial improvement in credit expansion.

Meanwhile, the RBI data suggests that the credit expansion is not confined to a single segment of the economy despite global uncertainties, supply disruptions and trade problems. Instead, the acceleration is visible throughout productive sectors as well as retail lending.

Overall, the data points to a significant strengthening in the transmission of economic activity into bank lending, with businesses, financial institutions, farmers and households all accessing more credit than they did a year ago.

Taken together, the developments around industry and services sectors see 20% point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.