Mumbai: State Bank of India , the country’s biggest lender, could ease lending rates even before the country’s central bank cuts rates, its chief financial officer Diwakar Gupta said.
The Reserve Bank of India cut cash reserve requirements for banks by 50 basis points last week, signaling a policy shift towards reviving growth after nearly two years of fighting inflation.
It had raised rates 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011, slowing demand for credit in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Indian banks are expected to reduce rates for segments that are seeing higher demand for credit and lower level of defaults, but have not set any timeframe.
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