Interest rates may rise from July: Kochhar

The country’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, does not see immediate pressure on interest rates, but expects them to rise from the second quarter (July-September) of next financial year due to increase in demand for credit.

“Clearly, we will see no immediate pressure on interest rates. But we will see upward pressure on interest rates — not from the beginning of next financial year, but I will say second quarter of next year,” ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar said.

She said interest rates are not driven so much by policy announcements of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but demand and supply of credit and level of liquidity.

“Interest rates are driven not just by policy announcements, but more by demand and supply of credit and liquidity, currently since there is enough liquidity, my view is there will not be any immediate pressure on interest rates,” she added.