NBFC lending up 15.8% in a year; retail loans jump 22%
Loans by non-bank lenders grew 15.8% in the year to August 2026, up from 10.0%, driven by retail borrowing such as home loans and gold loans.
Official title: Sectoral Deployment of Credit by NBFC – August 2026 · Press Release 2026-2027/1261
What happened
Non-bank lenders are growing their loan books faster. Credit from NBFCs and housing finance companies rose 15.8% in the year to August 31, 2026, compared with 10.0% a year earlier. The sample covers lenders that hold about 87% of all NBFC credit.
Retail loans grew fastest, at 22.0% (13.6% a year ago). Home loans and gold loans sped up, and vehicle loans kept growing strongly. Farm loans rose 17.4% (5.1% a year ago). Industry loans grew 8.4%, about the same as last year. Services lending slowed to 16.2% from 24.0%, as loans to traders and transport operators cooled while commercial real estate loans rose briskly.
What it means for you
More households are borrowing from NBFCs, especially for homes and against gold jewellery. If you take a gold or home loan from an NBFC, you are part of a fast-growing segment.
What it means for businesses
NBFC credit to industry is growing only modestly, so most of the growth is in consumer lending. Truckers and traders are seeing slower credit growth from NBFCs than a year ago.
Links in this release, explained
- NBFC sectoral credit statement (Excel)
The Excel statement with outstanding NBFC loans and growth rates for each sector and loan type.
rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/docs/NBFCCREDIT06102026.xlsx - Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2024-25
RBI's December 2025 annual review of banks and NBFCs. The release uses its figures to show the NBFC sample covers about 87% of total NBFC credit.
rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx?prid=61902
Read the original
Press release on rbi.org.in ↗ Official PDF ↗
This explainer simplifies the official text. If anything here differs from the RBI's release, the release is right.