Deposit rates peak; to move downwards in medium term: SBI Chairman

SBI Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara predicts a decline in deposit rates, indicating a potential easing of interest rates by RBI in the third quarter, starting from October, as inflation trends towards 4%. \r

While global central banks like Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, and the Euro area have initiated rate cuts, expectations for a US Federal Reserve cut have diminished. Khara suggests that banking interest rates have peaked and anticipates a downward trajectory in the medium term. \r

SBI recently raised fixed deposit rates for select short-term maturities by up to 75 basis points but left rates unchanged for other maturity buckets beyond one year.