RBI data has revealed that bank credit to small and micro enterprises has increased in the last month of March.
Bank loans to small and micro enterprises under priority sector loans increased by 14 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to March 2022 with a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 13.2 per cent in March 2023, RBI’s latest monthly data said. Out of which, sector-wise utilization of bank credit by the Reserve Bank (RBI) was Rs 13.77 lakh crore in March last year and Rs 15.61 lakh crore in February this year.
Credit to medium enterprises grew by 13.4 per cent to Rs 3.99 lakh crore in March from Rs 3.51 lakh crore used in March last year. As of February 2023, medium credit disbursements stood at Rs 3.90 lakh crore.
Priority sector lending by banks to MSMEs and medium enterprises totaled Rs 19.69 lakh crore in March 2023. This was a growth of 13.8 per cent at Rs 17.29 lakh crore as against 14.4 per cent of bank loans of Rs 136.55 lakh crore in March 2022.
17.08 Lakh crores of credit has been given to agriculture and allied activities among other credit eligible sectors in priority sectors. Similarly, in March 2023, housing loans of Rs 6.21 lakh crore, education loans of Rs 58,634 crore, renewable energy of Rs 4,656 crore, social infrastructure of Rs 2,464 crore and export credit of Rs 15,69 crore have been disbursed.
According to the 2019 UK Sinha Committee report, the MSME sector has a credit requirement of Rs 20-25 lakh crore, which represents a great opportunity for banks, RBI said. RBI Deputy Governor M. Addressing the 31st Annual Management Conference of Thrissur Management Association recently, Rajeshwar Rao said that this should be seen as an opportunity by banks and other financial institutions.
Importantly, as per RBI’s last December 2022 report, credit growth to MSMEs in the industrial sector in the post-Covid period has been higher not only on a year-on-year basis, but also compared to credit growth for large industries. It represents the bank’s activities and progress in India.
