SBI rules out further rate cut in FY16

SBI chief Bhattacharya

INDIA'S largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) will not cut its base rate this fiscal and will examine it only next year. This was disclosed by SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said on January 1.
The bank’s base rate is 9.3 per cent at present.
Speaking to reporters after inaugurating the bank’s 12th Intouch branch, she said that the new base rate calculation, based on the marginal cost of funds, will not...
make any huge difference to the base rate, albeit enabling faster transmission.
She said, “I don’t really think so, but may be once we cross the year end then we will see.”
“We have not seen there will be any huge amount of difference (in using marginal cost of funds),” she said, adding that some more  transmission will definitely happen but “I don’t think it is going to be humongous”.
Private bank HDFC Bank had recently cut its base rate by 5 basis points (bps) to 9.3 percent, effective from December 28. This puts the bank on par with SBI, which had reduced its base rate by 40 bps in September after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut interest rate by 50 basis points.
Most public sector banks have a base rate of 9.5 per cent or more.
She said that SBI will focus its branch opening strategy based on the customer profile. “We are trying to change the branches based on the kind of customer profiles we see in those places. Where we are seeing the customers are getting younger and they are digitally-savvy, in those localities we will have branches like this (Intouch),” she said.
Bhattacharya added that this strategy will showcase its digital abilities and on the other hand, where customers do not need much help in transactions, there will be more of advisory services. “Definitely the entire branch strategy will be geared towards finding the right kind of branch for the right kind of clients.”
SBI Intouch branches are primarily targeted at providing services to the youth in the country and they are digital branches. These branches are a first step in the journey to offering full digital services across the nation. Besides Delhi, the other such branches are located in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmedabad.
The bank has engaged Accenture to develop the digital business strategy for its programme.