Mumbai: State Bank of India, India's largest lender, expects loan growth to rise to as much as 15 percent in the fiscal year to March 2016, boosted by government auctions for coal concessions and mobile radio airwaves, Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.
That compares to what is expected to be "very very low" loan growth of below 10 percent in the current fiscal year, Bhattacharya said in an interview.
She also said a cut in India`s cash reserve ratio, the share of deposits which lenders must hold with the Reserve Bank, would "definitely help" banks to cut lending rates, Bhattacharya said.
Most banks have yet to cut their base lending rate, despite a 50 basis point reduction in the key policy rate by the central bank so far this year.
