RBI faces trouble getting banks to cut rates
Live MintIndian lenders haven’t fully passed on the central bank’s latest interest rate cut to borrowers, pressuring the monetary authority to loosen policy even more to support economic growth. Latest data from the central bank shows the main overnight lending rate offered by commercial banks has been sticky in a range of 8.15 percent to 8.55 percent since the beginning of the year. Most banks have trimmed lending rates by a ‘token’ 10 basis points, said Ashutosh Khajuria, chief financial officer at Federal Bank Ltd. in Mumbai, adding that the RBI needs to move by a bigger-than-usual 50 basis points to spur lending. Most bankers remain cautious though and “are not willing to cut rates as deposits and household financial savings are at historical lows,” said Prachi Mishra, chief India economist at Goldman Sachs India Securities. “Even while policy rates are down, the rates paid by the government on small savings are significantly higher than bank deposit rates.” Savings programs offered by the government through post offices return between 7 percent and 8 percent annually along with tax benefits, while a one- to two-year time deposit with the State Bank earns an interest of 6.8 percent.