New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS): In more bad news for the economy, commercial credit growth slowed down to 10.4 per cent in the quarter ending June.

As per a TransUnion Cibil report, the total on-balance sheet commercial lending exposure in India declined to Rs 63.8 lakh crore in June 2019 from Rs 65.5 lakh crore in March 19.

"The year-on-year commercial credit growth was at 10.4 per cent in the quarter ending in June '19. However, a quarter-on-quarter comparison, suggests that June '19 quarter ending exposure levels are lower than March '19 quarter ending exposure by 2.6 per cent," the report said.

The non-performing assets (NPAs) surged to 16.1 per cent in this period suggesting bank profits remain under pressure.

The report titled 'MSME Pulse' said that non-bank financial companies (NBFCs), that were steadily gaining market share across all commercial credit segments, could not maintain the pace in the first half of 2019.

"In recent years, private banks and NBFCs have successfully managed to gain market share from public sector banks on MSME lending. However, in the quarter ending June '19, the share of NBFCs has declined for the first time in the last two years," it said.

NBFCs have also witnessed an increase in NPA rates in the same period. Further, NBFC credit outstanding showed a 1 per cent decline over a six month period (January- June '19) versus same period last year.

"The absolute NPA amount has also increased in the range of 25-28 per cent. The NPA rate for NBFCs has escalated to 5.9 per cent in the quarter ending June '19 from 4.4 per cent in Jun'18," said the report.