The Reserve Bank of India has released its monthly data on sectoral deployment of bank credit. The data released yesterday shows that the growth in credit to agriculture and allied activities continued to be robust, with a growth of 17.7 per cent in August this year as against the corresponding period last year.

Credit growth to industries also exhibited a growth of nearly 10 per cent during the same period. Among major industries, credit to chemicals and chemical products, food processing, petroleum and infrastructure recorded a higher growth.

In the services sector, however, the decrease in credit growth was registered. It decelerated to 15.6 per cent in August this year from 21 per cent a year ago. Lower credit growth in non-banking financial companies is cited as the reason. Growth in personal loans also moderated to 16.9 per cent in the same period.