'No need to press panic button due to unhedged exposure'

State-run State Bank of India (RBI), the country's largest lender, doesn't see unhedged exposure of corporates as a big concern due to the volatility in the rupee, said its chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya.

"We always ask our clients to hedge but no one hedges completely. Hopefully, all our clients have sensibly hedged what are the immediate requirements. At this time, no need to press the panic button," said Bhattacharya.

The rupee ended weaker on Friday due to concerns over financial contagion from the tumbling Russian rouble.

The rupee ended at 63.30 compared with the previous close of 63.11 to the dollar.

In a speech in October, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor H R Khan had said the hedge ratio for external commercial borrowings (ECBs)/foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) declined sharply from about 34 per cent in financial year 2014 during April-August 2014 with a very low ratio of about 15 per cent in July-August 2014.

Khan had said excess leverage, excessive unhedged currency exposure and not-well-thought-out outward foreign direct investment were the three things that added to vulnerability.

Meanwhile, SBI on Friday decided to enhance awareness of its tech channels among customers with the launch of Tech Learning Centres.

The 385 Tech Learning Centres across the country conducted interactive learning sessions and demos of the bank's tech-channels for about 15,000 customers.

"We have got digital banking too and we want to ensure people use it safely and therefore we are creating more awareness," said Bhattacharya.

SBI do not have exposure to the cash-strapped SpiceJet. "We just have current account to current account exposure. We are not planning to increase exposure," said Bhattacharya.

The investment limit for Foreign Institutional investors (FIIs) in government bonds is almost full. Bhattacharya believes it does make sense to hike the limit. "We have seen quite some activity on the bond side in respect with those bonds which were considered a proxy to the government and they also went at very good pricing like MTNL. So it does make sense to hike the limit. Am sure the central bank is looking at it but they also look at macro indicators before looking at it," she said.