Mumbai, Mar 14 (IANS): Industrial credit in the country rose by 5.2 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in January 2019, a Centrum Broking report said on Thursday.

The growth rate was highest since February 2016 when it was recorded at 5.4 per cent, the report said citing Reserve Bank of India's sectoral credit data for January.

"This growth was mainly led by infrastructure (which grew by 12.6 per cent YoY). As for broader segments, the large industrial segment, which accounts for 82.7 per cent of industrial credit, rose 6.1 per cent," it said.

Loans provided to the infrastructure segment account for 35.9 per cent share of the total credit provided to the industrial sector.

According to Centrum Broking, industrial credit growth was also driven by the chemicals, engineering, petroleum and food processing sectors.

Further, the mining industry witnessed an 18.1 per cent increase in credit, while the loans provided to the metals sector fell 10.3 per cent.

Regarding personal loans, the report said that personal loans grew 16.9 per cent YoY with the major driver being housing, where credit flow increased by 18.4 per cent.

Credit in the consumer durable segment, however, slumped 75 per cent in January compared to the same month last year.