No interest rate hike, says SBI's Bhatt

Despite inflationary pressure, there will be no increase in the interest rate on loan in the next six months because of surplus liquidity in the market and rising deposits, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt told reporters here.

Bhatt said there is a good amount of liquidity in the market and credit offtake is slowly picking up.The SBI chairman did not think the Indian economy had been affected by the recession. “The recession did not hit India the way it had affected European countries last year. There was only a slowdown in the growth rate which came down to seven per cent from nine per cent,” he said.