**Executive Summary**
This report details the Reserve Bank of India's publication "Quarterly Basic Statistical Return (BSR)-1 on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks - December 2025". It presents data on bank credit characteristics and growth rates as of December 2025. The previous data release for this series was on November 28, 2025.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Overall Bank Credit Growth:**
* Bank credit growth (year-on-year) improved slightly to 12.2 per cent in December 2025 from 11.8 per cent in December 2024.
* **Credit Growth by Location:**
* Bank branches in rural, semi-urban, and urban centres experienced higher credit growth compared to metropolitan branches.
* The combined share of credit in rural, semi-urban, and urban centres increased to 40.4 per cent in December 2025 from 36.9 per cent in December 2020.
* Since December 2024, credit growth in metropolitan branches has been lower than in other population groups.
* **Credit Growth by Bank Type:**
* Public Sector Banks (PSBs) recorded credit growth of 14.1 per cent (year-on-year) in December 2025, surpassing overall bank credit growth.
* PSB credit growth has consistently outpaced that of Private Sector Banks (PVBs) over the last five quarters.
* **Interest Rates on Loans:**
* The weighted average lending rate (WALR) on outstanding credit declined across major sectors since December 2024, standing at 9.35 per cent in December 2025 (down from 10.19 per cent in December 2024).
* The WALR on personal loans saw the most significant softening, followed by industry.
* Following the easing of policy rates, the proportion of loans with interest rates below 9 per cent rose to 62.4 per cent in December 2025, up from 42.2 per cent in December 2024.
* **Sectoral Credit Growth:**
* Credit growth accelerated in agriculture, industry, and trade sectors in December 2025 compared to December 2024.
* Conversely, transport operators, personal loans, and professional services sectors experienced a moderation in credit growth during the same period.
* Personal loans' growth decelerated to 12.1 per cent in December 2025 from 13.7 per cent in December 2024, aligning with overall bank credit growth after a period of outpacing it.
* Credit to the private corporate sector improved to 9.6 per cent (year-on-year) in December 2025, up from 9.0 per cent in September 2025 and 7.9 per cent in June 2025.
**Impact Analysis**
**Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs)**
* **Impact:** SCBs need to analyze their credit growth performance across different sectors and locations, as well as understand the trends in interest rates on their loans. They also need to assess their competitive positioning relative to PSBs.
* **Action Required:** Review the detailed data presented in the BSR-1 publication to inform strategic decisions regarding credit deployment, pricing, and sector-specific focus.
**Public Sector Banks (PSBs)**
* **Impact:** PSBs are shown to be outperforming overall bank credit growth and PVBs.
* **Action Required:** Continue to monitor and leverage their strong credit growth performance.
**Private Sector Banks (PVBs)**
* **Impact:** PVBs are shown to be lagging behind PSBs in credit growth.
* **Action Required:** Analyze the factors contributing to the lower growth compared to PSBs and consider strategies to enhance their credit expansion.
**Borrowers (Across all sectors, including agriculture, industry, trade, transport, personal loans, and professional services)**
* **Impact:** Borrowers are experiencing shifts in credit growth dynamics across various sectors and a significant reduction in average lending rates.
* **Action Required:** Be aware of the changes in the credit environment, particularly the increased availability of loans at lower interest rates, and consider opportunities for financing based on sector-specific growth trends.
Key Entities Referenced
Quarterly Basic Statistical Return (BSR)-1 on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks - December 2025: The central subject of the press release, detailing bank credit statistics.
Reserve Bank of India: The issuing authority of the press release and the regulator of Scheduled Commercial Banks.
Database on Indian Economy: The portal where the Quarterly Basic Statistical Return data is published.
RBI Act, 1934: The law under which banking aggregates are collected, forming the basis for the data.
Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs): The entities whose credit data is being reported and analyzed.
प्रेस प्रकाशनी PRESS RELEASE
भारतीय �रज़वर् बैंक
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA
वेबसाइट : www.rbi.org.in/hindi संचार िवभाग, केंद्रीय कायार्लय, शहीद भगत िसंह मागर्, फोटर्, मुंबई - 400 001
Website : www.rbi.org.in Department of Communication, Central Office, Shahid Bhagat Singh Marg, Fort,
ई-मेल/email : helpdoc@rbi.org.in Mumbai - 400 001 फोन/Phone: 022 - 2266 0502
February 27, 2026
Quarterly Basic Statistical Return (BSR)-1 on Credit by Scheduled Commercial
Banks – December 2025
Today, the Reserve Bank released its web publication entitled ‘Quarterly Basic
Statistical Return (BSR)-1 on Credit by Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) 1 -
December 20252 on its ‘Database on Indian Economy’ portal (https://data.rbi.org.in
>Homepage > Publications). It captures various classificatory characteristics of bank
credit such as occupation/activity/organisational sector of the borrower, types of accounts
and their interest rates based on account-level reporting. Data reported by SCBs
{excluding Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)} are presented across bank groups, population
groups3 and States.
Highlights:
• Bank credit growth (y-o-y) improved marginally to 12.2 per cent in December 2025
from 11.8 per cent in December 2024 (Chart - I4).
1 Banking aggregates based on fortnightly Form-A Return (collected under Section 42(2) of the RBI Act, 1934) for the
end December 2025 were published earlier at our website (Home>Statistics>Data Release>Fortnightly>Scheduled
Bank's Statement of Position in India) and aggregate level monthly data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for
December 2025, reported by select major banks, were also released on the website (Home>Statistics>Data
Releases>Monthly> Data on Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit).
2 Reference date for BSR-1 is last day of the quarter. Previous data release in the series, covering end-September
2025 position, was published on November 28, 2025, on RBI website.
3 Population group criteria used for BSR is based on population size of respective revenue centre, as per census 2011,
where branches of SCBs are operating and classified as: a) 'Rural' (population less than 10,000), b) 'Semi-urban'
(population of 10,000 to less than 1 lakh), c) 'Urban' (population of 1 lakh to less than 10 lakhs), d) 'Metropolitan'
(population of 10 lakhs and above).
4 For comparison purpose, growth figures from period September 2023 to June 2024 are calculated by adjusting
merger of a non-bank with bank.2
• Bank branches located in rural, semi-urban and urban centres recorded higher credit
growth than metropolitan branches, with their combined share in total credit increased
to 40.4 per cent in December 2025 from 36.9 per cent in December 2020. Since
December 2024, credit growth in metropolitan branches has remained lower than
branches in other population groups.
• Public sector banks (PSBs) recorded credit growth of 14.1 per cent (y-o-y) for
December 2025, exceeding the overall bank credit growth. Credit growth in PSBs has
consistently outpaced that of private sector banks (PVBs) in last five quarters.
• The weighted average lending rate (WALR) on outstanding credit continued to ease
across major sectors since December 2024 and stood at 9.35 per cent as on
December 2025 (10.19 per cent on December 2024), in which the WALR on personal
loans softened the most, followed by industry.
• Following the easing of policy rates, the share of loans bearing interest rate ‘below 9
per cent’ increased from 42.2 per cent in December 2024 to 62.4 per cent on
December 2025, reflecting a shift in the interest rate distribution of bank credit.
• Credit growth accelerated in agriculture, industry and trade sectors for December
2025 relative to December 2024. In contrast, transport operators, personal loans and
professional services sectors recorded a moderation in credit growth during the same
period.
• Personal loans’ growth decelerated to 12.1 per cent for December 2025 from 13.7 per
cent in December 2024, converging with overall bank credit growth after a sustained
period of outpacing it.
• Credit to private corporate sector improved to 9.6 per cent (y-o-y) in December 2025
from 9.0 per cent in September 2025 and 7.9 per cent in June 2025.
Ajit Prasad
Press Release: 2025-2026/2187 Deputy General Manager
(Communications)