Bankers expect CRR cut in April policy meet

Moneycontrol Bureau

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduled to announce annual monetary policy for 2012-13 on April 17, 2012.

Bankers expect the central bank to cut cash reserve ratio (CRR) to ease the tight liquidity situation and boost growth.

CRR is the portion of deposit that banks are required to keep in cash with the Reserve Bank.

Last month, RBI had slashed CRR from 5.5% to 4.75%. With this, the central bank had infused Rs 48,000 crore into the economy.

At the Banking and Finance Conference, bankers have unanimously called for a CRR cut.

D Sarkar, chairman and managing director of Union Bank is expecting a CRR cut of 25 to 50 bps, while SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri sees a cut of 75 bps.

MD Mallya, chairman and managing director of BOB also expects a CRR cut on April 17.

However, M. Narendra, chairman and managing director of Indian Overseas Bank says, CRR cut need not happen in this policy. He expects a rate cut in either April or June.

Bankers will take a call on lending rates post the RBI policy. SBI says, it will consider reducing lending rates after the announcement of the credit policy on April 17.