State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday ruled out the possibility of bank rates going up sharply in the next 3-4 months stating that the credit offtake was usually low in the first quarter.
“There is still a fair amount of liquidity in the system so possibly during the next 2-3 months despite the upward bias there may not be much hike in interest rates,'' SBI Chairman O. P. Bhatt told reporters here at the launch of special concessional banking scheme for Air Force personnel. The SBI chief, however, said he would wait for the RBI monetary policy review on April 20 to decide on teaser home loans where interest rates were lower.
SBI now offers home loans at 8 per cent under the special home loan scheme (teaser home loans), but revised the rates for the second and the third years to 9 per cent from 8.5 per cent earlier.
Under the newly launched scheme — Defence Salary Package — Air Force personnel will get facilities such as free draft and free fund transfer from 16,000 branches of the SBI and its associate banks.
“Our business correspondents appointed in un-banked rural areas will also be available for basic banking requirement of the Air Force and their families,'' SBI said.
Speaking on the occasion, Air Chief Marshal P. V. Naik said “I hope SBI would meet the expectations of the defence personnel,'' adding that he would urge the SBI Chairman to translate it into reality at the earliest.
