Uco Bank to cut PLR, deposit rates by 0.5%

Kolkata-based Uco Bank has decided to slash its benchmark prime lending rate (PLR) and deposit rates by 0.5 per cent effective from February 1, a top official today said.

"The PLR of the bank will be reduced by another 0.5 per cent from February 1. We have also decided to cut our deposit rates across various tenures by 0.5 per cent," Uco Bank Chairman and Managing Director S K Goel told PTI here.

Presently, the bank's PLR stands at 13.5 per cent.

Noting that the Reserve Bank was always prepared to use its monetary options to support the banking system, Goel said further cuts in key rates were likely.

"There is enough liquidity as of now. The central bank has been using a combination of measures to balance the liquidity conditions in the system. I expect further cuts in RBI's key rates in the near term," Goel said.

In its third quarter review of annual monetary policy today, the Reserve Bank kept its key-rates -- repo and reverse repo -- unchanged and lowered the GDP growth projection to 7 per cent.

Announcing the measures, the RBI said that the transmission in the credit market has so far been subdued.

Most of the banks have reduced lending and deposit rates to some extent, but a few are yet to do so, the apex bank said.