A day after Finance Minister P Chidambaram and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia made a strong case for hiking domestic fuel prices following surge in global crude prices to over $65 a barrel, leading banks ike Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and HDFC ank indicated that interest rate on deposit, lending and home loan rates are unlikely to change in the near future.
But they are keeping their fingers crossed over medium term prospects on interest rates. "I don't think huge variation in interest rate in either side. But global oil prices are a cause of concern," OBC chairman K N Prithviraj said.
HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri said, "The interest rate outlook is stable, as RBI and government have stated. The main areas to watch are oil prices and inflation."
He said there was no move to hike short term deposit, lending rates or home loan rates. Neither is there any chance of interest rates going down at this juncture, Puri added.
PNB general manager (treasury) Arun Kaul said, "Inflation has decreased. So interest rates should also come down. But at present it depends on the global oil prices and availability of liquidity in the market."
Puri said there was ample liquidity in the market right now and appreciated RBI for its prudent management of money supply that helped inflation to slide to over two-year low of 3.35 per cent in August first week.
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