State Bank of India has dropped interest rates on deposits by 25 to 50 basis points, aligning them to the rest of the industry. The revised rates come into effect from November 10.

Deposits of 7 to 14 days will continue to earn four per cent interest, while deposits with a maturity of 15 to 45 days will earn 25 basis points less interest at 4 per cent.

• Credit Policy 2003-04: Complete Coverage

Rates on all other deposits will be cut by 50 basis points. Thus a deposit of three years and more will earn an interest of 5.5 per cent, lower then the existing 6 per cent.

Most public sector banks including Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab National Bank offer the same interest rate of 5.5 per cent.

Bank of India however, offers a lower rate of 5.25 per cent, while private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank offer 5.75 per cent. Foreign banks however, the lowest rates at around 4.5 per cent on three-year deposits.

SBI officials stated that the bank had last revised its deposit rates on May 5, and unlike the rest of the banks had not lowered rates following the repo rate cut in August.

"This cut is to factor in the 50-basis point repo rate cut by the central bank," said bank officials. The bond market responded favourably to the cut as bond prices rose on an average by 20 paise.

12 GMs promoted

State Bank of India has promoted 12 general managers to the post of chief general managers. The GMs who have been promoted include A D Prabhu, B Rao, Deepak Chawla, D K Shukla, K D Ghairola, O P Bhat, R Ram Mohan, Ramesh Kumar, S Natrajan and J K Nathan.