The rise in agricultural NPAs during 2011/12 could be due to the lagged effect of double-digit growth in agricultural credit during the last four years (2006/07 to 2009/10), the general economic slowdown and also, possibly, the new systemwide identification of NPAs [Chart 8].
Source: RBI Supervisory Returns  Summary of evolving trends To summarise, the broad trends in agricultural credit are: (i) increasing share of formal institutional credit in total rural credit; (ii) increasing credit intensity (ratio of agricultural credit to agricultural GDP) of agriculture; (iii) increasing share of commercial banks in total institutional credit to agriculture; (iv) faster growth of indirect agricultural credit; (v) decline in the share of long-term agricultural credit; (vi) skewed regional distribution of agricultural credit; (vii) importance of Kisan Credit Cards; and (viii) higher level of NPAs in the agriculture  BIS central bankers’ speeches  9  sector compared to the non-agriculture sector.