After some leading lenders hiked their deposit rates and lending rates on Thursday,many more bankers said there was a clear upward bias in the interest rate regime and that soon they would have to take a call on revising their lending rates. Leading bankers HDFC Bank,Corporation Bank,Central Bank of India,Bank of Baroda,StanChart and Indian Overseas Bank among others told reporters that there was a northward pressure on the cost of funds since the Reserve Bank hiked short-term borrowing and lending rates to contain inflation. The bankers were talking to reporters after a meeting with the Reserve Bank on how the UID project could be leveraged to drive the objective of financial inclusion. The country's second largest private sector lender HDFC Bank's managing director Aditya Puri said there was a clear upward movement in the cost of funds and that lending rate had to match the cost of funds. "We will be having a meeting of our Alco (asset and liability management committee) soon and we will take a call on the lending rate," Puri said. To a specific question on any move to revise the base rate,he said,"my base rate is currently lower than the State Bank and that the rising cost of deposits should reflect the lending rate too."
