SBI not to hike rates now
06 Apr 2010
State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, today said it has no immediate plan to hike lending rates.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi, SBI chairman O P Bhatt said the state-run bank would wait for further signals from the central bank's forthcoming annual monetary policy.
"Immediately, I do not see a hike in interest rates. We have to wait for the RBI policy on 20 April," NDTV Profit quoted Bhatt as saying.
The RBI will announce its annual monetary policy on 20 April.
Last month, the RBI had lifted its repo and reverse repo rates (short term lending and borrowing rates, respectively) by 0.25 per cent each to 5 per cent and 3.75 per cent, respectively, to cool runaway inflation, which has shot past the RBI's forecast of 8.5 per cent by March.
Although Bhatt said the lender is flush with funds, he hinted that it has plans to raise money from the market in the long-run.
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