New Delhi, Apr 5 (KNN) Thanks mainly to the economic downturn, the growth in credit offtake to the manufacturing sector has declined to 14.7 per cent in February this year as against 19.1 per cent in the same month in 2012.
 
The medium sized companies showed the maximum contraction in the growth of credit offtake to 10 per cent as compared to 17 per cent a year ago, according to the latest data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
 
However, the advances in the services sector and retail grew at a healthy pace of 12.7 per cent.

In the face of slower demand, the manufacturing sector has been hit hard. The cumulative growth of manufacturing was 0.9 per cent during April-January, 2012-13 compared to 3.7 per cent growth during corresponding period of the previous year. (KNN)