Ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s half-yearly review of credit policy slated for October 30, global investment banker Lehman Brothers on Wednesday said it expects the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to go up by 25 basis points in the immediate term.

“We expect CRR to go up by 25 basis points in the immediate future and by December this year CRR may go up by 50 basis points,” Lehman Brothers Chief Economist Asia Robert Subbaraman told reporters here. He added that the CRR may even go up by 100 basis during the next year.

There is widespread speculation in the market about CRR hike once again because of excess liquidity which is leading to unprecedented rise in the value of rupee against dollar.

The Reserve Bank increased CRR by 50 basis points to 7 per cent on July 31 to suck about Rs 16,000 crore from the market.