Banking regulator and monetary watchdog Reserve Bank of India has reported a growth by 19.73% in credit offtake by banks during the one year period which came to an end on July 30.

The status one year back was 15.14% which indicates a commendable performance by banks this year. The credit offtake amounted to Rs 34.55 lakh crore for banks as on July 30, 2010 as against Rs 28.86 lakh crore as on June 31, 2009, said RBI.

The growth in credit offtake this fiscal has been estimated at 20% by the apex bank in the monetary policy for the fiscal.

"The growth in non-food credit of banks is placed at 20 per cent. As always, these numbers are provided as indicative projections and not as targets," RBI had said while presenting the monetary policy.

The one year tenor ending on July 16 showed credit growth at 21.26% which is ahead of RBI's projection.

RBI said that the major leap in credit has been due to extensive borrowing by telcos for the 3G spectrum deal.

"I don't see demand for credit going down. Apart from industrial production growth, which has slowed down slightly due to the base effect, all other indicators are encouraging. I expect credit growth of 20-22 per cent in the current fiscal," ratings agency Crisil chief economist DK Joshi said.