RBI unlikely to cut CRR in policy review, say bankers

The Reserve Bank of India has hinted that a cut in the cash reserve ratio, or CRR, was unlikely in its monetary policy review on January 24, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing bankers who attended a pre-policy meeting.

RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn reportedly told bankers that lowering CRR will be contradictory to the anti-inflationary stance.

"He (Gokarn) said liquidity is quite comfortable," a banker said.

The RBI has kept the CRR -- the proportion of deposits banks keep in cash with RBI -- unchanged at 6% even as it increased its policy rate 13 times to 8.5%, its highest since July 2008, since March 2010.

"CRR cut is unlikely - that is my personal view. But, we have asked them to pay interest on it," State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told Reuters on Tuesday after attending the meeting.