ICICI Bank sees stable near-term rates

ICICI Bank, the country's second-largest lender, sees stable interest rates in the medium term.

"As long as the global window is open, growth will happen and interest rates will remain stable," K V Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer, said here.

Kamath said the corporate sector needs about Rs 2,50,000 crore a year or Rs 8,00,000 crore as capital expenditure in the next three years. Corporates have profits of Rs 1,50,000 crore every year, and are raising Rs 60,000-70,000 crore in the form of debt and equity, mostly from overseas.

That takes the cash available to about Rs 2,20,000 crore a year for capex by corporates. So, the domestic requirement of corporates for additional credit is not very significant, he added.

Kamath declined to comment on Reserve Bank of India's credit policy review, scheduled for tomorrow. ICICI Bank is planning to make huge investment in software companies to serve and sustain the growing business.

Kamath added the bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent and may raise funds through hybrid instruments depending on the requirement.

On the economy, Kamath said though there is talk of 8-10 per cent growth, in his view, the economy is already growing by 10 per cent.

"The main challenge for the government is how to sustain the double digit growth through infrastructure intervention," he added.