New Delhi: Amidst ample liquidity, bankers
do not see interest rates moving up and State Bank of India
Chairman O P Bhatt expects the cost to even fall in the next
few months.
"In the next 4-6 months, I do not see interest rates
going up. Either they will remain stable or may even drop,"
Bhatt told reporters here after receiving the award from Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh for excellence in financing small and
medium enterprises.
Bhatt said there is enough liquidity in the banking
system, so much so that different banks are offering "all
kinds of schemes on specific kinds of products, which are very
competitive".
While inflation has stayed in the negative territory for
past several weeks, analysts are wondering whether the
interest rates has bottomed out with signs of economic
recovery. The Reserve Bank left the benchmark rates unchanged
in its July credit policy.
Central Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director S
Sridhar also does not see any upward movement in the interest
rates in the festival season. " In the short-term, interest
rates would depend on liquidity, which was enough in the
system," Sridhar said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, August 28, 2009, 14:41