Yes Bank raises savings rate by 200 basis points

Within hours of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deregulating savings rate, private lender Yes Bank on Tuesday hiked its savings rate by a hefty 200 basis points even as some leading bankers said they were not in a hurry to take a call as the liquidity position was comfortable.

“We are not in a hurry. We will see how it (the rate hike) pans out. We don't see any pressure now (on liquidity). Banks are comfortable with the liquidity now. Banks will not be desperate to raise rates,” SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said after RBI hiked policy rates by 25 basis points.

Yes Bank, however, was quick to react and raised savings rate by 200 basis points to 6 per cent. Further, the bank increased its base rate or minimum lending rate by 25 basis points to 10.50 per cent with immediate effect.

As for SBI, Mr. Chaudhuri said, “Right now there is so much liquidity that we are thinking of downsizing on the liquidity”.

The largest private sector lender ICICI Bank said it would watch the situation for sometime before taking a decision on rate revision.

“The rates would not go up immediately. Everybody is going to watch before taking any decision on rate hikes,” ICICI Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar said.

HDFC Bank MD and Chief Executive Aditya Puri said, “Lending rates will not go up till the deposit rates do so. At the moment it is in a comfortable situation”.

Oriental Bank of Commerce Executive Director S. C. Sinha, however, said, “Banks are likely to increase both lending and deposit rates”.