Bank credit to India’s services sector grew 28.3% year on year in September 2026, accelerating from 9.9% in the comparable period a year earlier and making services the fastest-growing major segment in the Reserve Bank of India’s latest sectoral data.
Overall non-food credit expanded 19.1% as of 30 September, compared with 11.2% in the corresponding fortnight of the previous year. The RBI’s sectoral return covers 41 scheduled commercial banks accounting for about 95% of system-wide non-food credit.
Credit to industry and agriculture each grew 19.5%, while personal loans increased 17.3%. Industry’s comparison was particularly strong: the year-earlier growth rate was 7.7%.
Services lead the acceleration
The RBI identified non-banking financial companies, trade, commercial real estate, transport operators and professional services as leading contributors within services.
Detailed reporting put outstanding services credit at about ₹64.9 lakh crore, including ₹22.53 lakh crore to NBFCs. Lending to NBFCs rose 41.8%, computer-software credit 45.8% and aviation credit 42.7%. Trade and commercial-real-estate credit grew 23.9% and 23.3%, respectively.
Industry breadth improves
Industry credit reached roughly ₹49.77 lakh crore. Lending to medium enterprises grew 33.2%, micro and small enterprises 24.4%, and large industry 16%.
Engineering, gems and jewellery and construction showed strong growth. Infrastructure credit rose 11.8%, but the internal split was uneven: power lending increased 22.9%, road credit grew only 0.7%, and telecommunications credit contracted 13.4%.
Household credit remains resilient
Personal-loan growth reached 17.3%, supported by housing and vehicle loans. Gold-jewellery loans continued to grow rapidly, though at a slower rate than a year earlier. The RBI also cautioned that a bank’s reclassification of some agricultural loans into the retail gold-loan category affects that comparison.
Boardroom read
The breadth of credit growth points to stronger financing demand across companies and households. The fastest expansion sits in services and NBFC-linked lending, so boards should watch asset quality and end-use alongside headline growth. Infrastructure’s uneven sub-sector performance also shows why the 19.5% industry aggregate should not be read as uniform demand.
Source: Reserve Bank of India, Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit — September 2026, released 30 October 2026.
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