JOIN US“Our deposits have been growing at a very fast rate and we shortly expect a scenario where there’ll be an excess of supply over demand,” SBI chairman O P Bhatt told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the bank’s inward remittance division. “We’ll very soon examine if further tweaking of deposit rates is required,” Bhatt said adding that the bank has phenomenally increased its marketshare of deposits in 2008-09.
“ In fact, our increase in the marketshare of deposits last year was the highest seen by any bank anywhere and we’re currently getting around $200 million per day” Bhatt claimed.
Asked if the bank has any immediate plan to cut the prime lending rate (PLR), he said SBI’s lending rates are presently the “lowest in the industry.”
“Tell me which segment of loan offered by SBI is not cheaper than the industry levels?” he asked.He,however, gave a strong indication of the interest rates to fall further.
“In general, there seems to be a softening of interest rates on deposit and advance sides,” Bhatt said.
Referring to the credit demand, Bhatt said the prevailing sentiment in the market has been resisting credit offtake.
SBI, he said, has been offering the home loan at the cheapest rate of 8 per cent.