CRR a useful tool in RBI's hands: SBI chief

Unlike the views of her predecessor Pratip Chaudhuri, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhuti Bhattacharya today said cash reserve ratio (CRR) was an useful tool in the hands of regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"In my wisdom, the CRR is an useful monetary tool in RBI's hands and it depends on how it was being used by the regulator," she told reporters here.
Chaudhuri had persistently maintained that non-interest bearing CRR deposits held banks with the RBI should be done away with as it locked huge quantum of funds.
Asked about to comment on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's view that public sector banks should be granted more autonomy by the government, Bhattacharya said that it was imperative that efficiency of the PSBs should be increased.

"PSU bank should become much more efficient for there is a need for an enabling environment," she said.
Bhattacharya said: "This is the prescription of the day which will be determined by the owner (government) and the regulator (RBI).