IDBI Bank cuts lending rate by 0.25%
Duvvuri Subbarao, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, spoke extensively to NDTV Profit about the thinking behind the rate cut, and what to expect going forward.
State-owned IDBI Bank on Wednesday announced a cut of up to 0.5 per cent in lending and deposit rates, a day after Reserve Bank reduced key short-term rates.
While IDBI Bank lowered lending rate by 0.25 per cent, it cut the fixed deposit rate by as much as 0.5 per cent.
The new rates will be effective from April 20, IDBI Bank said in a statement.
IDBI Bank's loans linked to base rate will become cheaper following a 25 basis points reduction in rate to 10.50 per cent.
The bank has taken this pro-active step, keeping in view the recent policy measures announced by RBI and the emerging market conditions expected to arise out of the transmission of these monetary measures, it said.
The bank has also decided to reduce the retail term deposit rates by 0.1-0.5 per cent in various buckets having maturity of six months and above.
Yesterday, RBI reduced the short-term lending (repo) rate by 0.5 per cent to 8 per cent.
In the Annual Monetary Policy, 2012-13, RBI doubled borrowings under the Marginal Standing Facility for banks to 2 per cent of their deposits with immediate effect to ease liquidity. It also permitted banks to borrow under the MSF even if they have excess government securities holdings.
IDBI Bank reduced interest rates on fixed deposits with maturity between 270 days to 1 year by 0.25 per cent to 9 per cent.
For term deposits with maturity between 1 year 1 day to 499 days, the new interest rate will be 0.25 per cent lower than the existing 9.5 per cent.
At the same time, fixed deposits between 5-10 years maturity will earn 0.5 per cent lower return at 9 per cent from existing 9.5 per cent.
Further, the bank said, senior citizens will be eligible for additional interest rate of 0.5-0.75 per cent over and above the card rate.