Credit growth in the banking sector continues to fall and has now registered a growth rate of 4.8 per cent as on February 17, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. In the fortnight ended January 27, the credit growth had fallen to 4.71 per cent, lowest since at least 1998, the last data available with the RBI. Credit growth was 11.2 per cent in the year-ago period.

In the fortnight ended February 3, bank credit growth touched 5 per cent. Bank credit growth has been falling for years as banks get wary of lending to companies for fear of a spike in bad loans. Such loans ...