Mumbai: Bank credit rose by 22,034 crore to 48.73 lakh crore in the fortnight ending August 10, reflecting an uptick in economic activity.

According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, credit provided by the scheduled banks rose from 48,51,386 crore at the end of July 27 to 48,73,420 crore as on August 10, 2012.

The data reflects increased off-take of credit by the commercial as well as the agriculture sector.

The outstanding credit to the agriculture sector rose to 99,783 crore at the end of August 10, from 97,787 crore a fortnight ago.

However, the time and demand deposits of the scheduled banks declined to 78,368 crore at the end of August 10, from 78,649 crore crore at the end of July 27.

The RBI has projected a growth of 16 percent in deposits and 17 percent in advances for this financial year.

The decline in bank credit and deposit come in the backdrop of slowing economic growth, which dipped to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12.

According to the latest projections of economic growth by ratings agency Crisil, the GDP growth rate in the current fiscal is expected to moderate to 5.5 percent.

The RBI too has lowered the GDP projection for the fiscal to 6.5 per cent, from 7.3 percent estimated earlier.

In a bid to revive investment across the board, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had asked banks to cut interest rates and keep EMIs at affordable levels to encourage sale of consumer durables.