Credit off-take from public and private sector banks in the country grew by 23.7 per cent to Rs 38.30 lakh crore during the one year period ended January 14, indicating an upswing in industrial activity, the Reserve Bank said.
In the corresponding period last year, credit off-take stood at Rs 30.96 lakh crore, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.
In its annual monetary policy at the beginning of the fiscal, the RBI had estimated that credit off-take would grow by 20 per cent this fiscal.
However, just last week the central bank expressed apprehension at the widening ratio between the credit and deposit rates of banks. This has the potential to affect the supply of liquidity in the system due to higher lending by the banks vis a vis lower deposits.
During the past few months, credit off-take has grown at the rate of 20 per cent on average. Credit off-take has been higher this fiscal on account of large borrowings by telecom firms to pay for 3G spectrum.
The government realised over Rs 1 lakh crore from the sale of spectrum for high speed mobile and broadband wireless services, much higher than the Budget estimate of Rs 35,000 crore.
Credit rating agencies like Crisil had earlier said the country is likely to see credit off-take grow at a rate of around 20-22 per cent this fiscal.