MUMBAI, MAR 3: The Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India on Wednesday cut their prime lending rates to 12 per cent while a string of new private banks led by ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and IndusInd and public sector Uco Bank cut their deposit rates ranging between 150 and 100 basis points. Foreign banks and financial institutions are expected to announce lending rate cuts over the next few days.The State Bank of India and Bank of India took the lead in cutting lending rates on Monday when both these banks pared their PLR to 12 per cent within hours of the Reserve Bank of India announcement of a cut in bank rate, repo rate and banks' cash reserve ratio (CRR).Senior bankers from ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Times Bank confirmed that these banks will be realigning their lending rates within this week. Some of them reduced their deposit rates on Wednesday. The rate cuts are sharper in the medium and longer end of the maturity profile. IndusInd Bank, however, cut its deposit rates at theshorter end as well.While the 91-179 day deposit rates for ICICI Bank has been lowered to 8 per cent from 8.5 per cent (9 per cent for IDBI bank), its rates for 180 days to 1 year, 1 to 3 years and 3 to seven years have all been cut by one per cent point to 10, 10.5 and 11 per cent, respectively (10.25, 11.00, and 12.00 per cent respectively for IDBI Bank). While IDBI Bank's rate cuts are with effect from March 4, ICICI Bank has effected the rate cut from March 8.IndusInd has reduced the deposit rates for the lower end of the segment by 1.00 to 1,50 per cent. It has brought its rate for 15-30 day to 5.5 per cent (for deposits less than Rs 1 crore) from 6 per cent, its rate for 181 days to one year to 9.50 per cent (from 10.50 per cent) while its rates for deposits with a maturity of 18 months or more remains constant at 11.50 per cent.The new private bank has also revised its NRE and NRNR deposit rates, the deposit rate cuts for HDFC Bank, Centurion Bank and Times Bank are expected to followsuit.
