Interest rates to soften: PNB
1 min read 05 Sep 2008, 09:46 PM ISTInterest rates to soften: PNB
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New Delhi: India’s second largest public sector lender, Punjab National Bank (PNB), sees interest rates stabilizing and expects it to start coming down after March 2009. That should relieve both industry and consumers. In fact, PNB remains bullish on the prospects of its home-loan business. 84c81490-7b54-11dd-ada7-000b5dabf613.flv
According to K.C.Charkraborty, CMD, PNB, “Housing loans we are encouraging. Don’t wait. Avail housing loan". The Reserve Bank of India has in phases raised the Cash Reserve Ratio and reverse repo rate to tame rising inflation. As a consequence, all private and public sector banks were forced to raise their benchmark lending rates. The PLR for most public sector banks now hovers in the range of 14%.
Shrugging off fears of a slowdown, Chakrabarty said that since financial penetration is low, PNB will not be impacted. “Even little bit slowdown cannot affect my growth. We will continue to grow at our targeted rate," he said.
The PNB head was speaking at a function where PNB announced tie-up with state telecom enterprise, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL post paid subscribers will now be able to pay their mobile phone bills through PNB ATM’s.
