Interest rates may firm up: ICICI

Kalpana Morparia, joint managing director of ICICI Bank, today said an overall hardening of interest rates was very much possible in the remaining months of the current fiscal in the wake of current inflationary pressures.

"I will not rule out an overall hardening of interest rates in the remaining nine months," Morparia said.

When asked about expectations from the forthcoming RBI credit policy review scheduled for July 25, Morparia said that she would not like to speculate on the apex bank's proposed moves. "It is not good to play a guessing game," she said.

On the bank's future course regarding interest rates, Morparia said a decision will be taken after the RBI's credit policy review. "We will study the impact of the RBI's decisions before making any announcements on our interest rates," she said.

In the last 12 months, the bank's overall lending rates have increased by 200 basis points while deposit rates have moved up by 80 bps.