SBI hints at more cuts in lending rate

The State Bank of India, on Monday, said though there is little room for further reduction in the base rate, it could cut lending rates in select categories, as it recently did for the SMEs, home and auto loans.

Given that the bank has already reduced the base rate, another round of rate cut may be difficult but the bank may go for reducing rates and thereby cutting spreads in select loan categories, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told reporters here.
The bank had slashed its base rate by 25 basis points to 9.75 per cent last Tuesday in a bid to transmit the benefit of the 25 basis point cent reduction in the cash reserve ratio by RBI.

Chaudhuri said with the reduction in base rate, the bank was leading the path of interest rate reduction in the system, in sync with the wishes of the central bank.
The bank, which had also reduced its deposit rates in some specific tenors in the recent past due to subdued credit growth, currently has an excess liquidity of over Rs 70,000 crore, including Rs 50,000 crore in SLR bonds. Chaudhuri also said despite muted credit growth, the bank is hopeful of meeting its credit growth target of 18-20 per cent on the back of recent reduction in the base rate.

No word from Kingfisher

Meanwhile, he said the debt-ridden carrier has not informed them of anything concrete after 49 per cent FDI was allowed in airlines on September 14. He said the lenders are likely to meet the Kingfisher management soon.

This will be the first meeting after the government allowed 49 per cent FDI in domestic airlines. “We have heard nothing concrete from them after the policy relaxation on FDI. Newspaper reports say they are in talks (with foreign airlines to divest stake). I am sure Mallya will come to us when he has something tangible,” Chaudhuri added.

Earlier, the 17-member bankers consortium had met here and had asked airline promoter Vijay Mallya to personally make a presentation on turnaround plan. SBI has the largest exposure of Rs 1,500 crore to the airline which has not been serviced since this January.