Interest rates on fixed deposits are at their peak and are expected to come down in the medium term. State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has said this. The country’s largest public sector bank also said that the Reserve Bank of India may start easing the interest rate cycle from the third quarter of the current fiscal year. Let us tell you that last week, the Reserve Bank of India kept the repo rate unchanged for the eighth consecutive time, focusing on inflation amid strong economic growth.
What did SBI Chairman say?
Dinesh Kumar Khara said – We expect inflation to move towards four per cent in the third quarter starting October, and that would be the right time when we can expect some cuts in the repo rate from the Reserve Bank. is Let us tell you that some central banks of advanced economies like Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and the Euro zone have started a cycle of rate cuts during the year 2024.
On the other hand, market expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve, which were high earlier, have now come down. As far as interest rates in the banking system are concerned, Khara said they are already at their peak. He said that going forward we will see some minor changes. I think, if we look at the medium-term path of interest rates, there will probably be a downward trend.
SBI FD Details
Last month, SBI hiked interest rates on select short-term maturity FDs by up to 0.75 percent. Under retail FD, the interest rate on deposits of 46-179 days has been increased by 0.75 per cent to 5.50 per cent. Earlier it was 4.75 percent.