Bankers today said the RBI Quarterly Monetary Review would trigger another round of interest rate hike even as they welcomed the measures to rein in inflation and push up growth.The apex bank, in its third quarter review of its Annual Monetary Policy, hiked the repo rate by 0.25% and increased provisioning in four segments."The RBI measures are well-balanced and not as worrisome as expected. Clearly, the need to curb inflation and ensure price stability were on top of the RBI's agenda," Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, Yes Bank, said."A message has been sent that the RBI intends to tackle inflation decisively," V Vaidyanathan, executive director, ICICI Bank said.Liquidity too could come under pressure, but enough would be available for deployment into productive sectors such as agriculture, SME segment, industry and infrastructure, they averred."The slight tightening visible presently is only to prevent credit flowing into unproductive sectors and speculative activities," M B N Rao, Chairman & Managing Director, Canara Bank, said.Following the repo rate hike, cost of funds will get higher for banks. "The RBI has conveyed its message in a direct manner," P K Gupta, Chairman, United Bank of India, said.Following an increase in provisioning norms, especially the commercial real estate, bankers said that loans would get costlier.
