Deregulation of Savings Bank Rate_Final

8/3/2019 Deregulation of Savings Bank Rate_Final

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Freeing the Saving Bank Rate of Interest Which Being

Constant for Long Period Will Lift the Cost of Banksin the Year 2011-2012

Under the guidance of Prof. Prakash Jakkanwar

Group Members:

Shrikant Abhyankar A001 Sumit Agrawal A005

Harsh Dingwani A018 Nitin Gupta A024

Ayush Gupta A025 Deepak Kadam A028

Rishit Parikh A043 Aniket Rane A046

Niral Shah A053 Amit Sharma A054

Neha Singh A056 Vikrant Singla A059

Vivek Srivastava A062


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Table of Contents

Topics Page Number

1. Introduction 3

2. History 4

3. Savings Bank Introduction and Statistics 6

4. Points for deregulation 7

5. Points against Deregulation 9

6. How will it lift costs of Banks 12

7. World experience of similar deregulation 14

8. Views of the industry 16

9. Conclusion 17

10. References 19

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1. Introduction

As a part of financial sector reforms, the Reserve Bank has deregulated interest rates on deposits,other than savings bank deposits. The interest rate on savings bank deposits has remainedunchanged at 3.5 per cent per annum since March 1, 2003. In a surprise move the Reserve Bank of India has announced, in its Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy, a decision toderegulate the savings bank interest rate with immediate effect. Two arguments have beenadvanced to support the move. The first is that it would serve depositors well, since it would nowallow them to earn a higher return on savings held in such deposits. The second argument is thatthe RBIs efforts to use increases in interest rates to moderate inflation has not worked becausethe transmission of increases in the Bank and or repo rates to the loan rates charged by banks ismuted. Since banks have access to funds in the form of savings deposits on which the interestrate is fixed, the cost at which they obtain capital does not raise in proportion to the increase in

the RBIs intervention rates. So banks do raise interest rates on their loans, but not adequately,muting the effect of the policy on demand and inflation.

There is reason to believe that it is the second of these arguments that has influenced the RBI toresort to this move. Unwilling (and also unable) to restrict credit flow because of the fear that itwill affect growth too adversely, the central bank has decided to maximise the impact on demandof the thirteen interest rate hikes it has announced in recent months. The RBI holds that the

policy has been on the anvil and had been seriously considered a couple of times in the recent past.

Savings bank deposits fall in between current account deposits that pay no interest since they aremaintained largely for transactions purposes, and term deposits or fixed deposits that are seen as

pure savings products likely to be held till they mature, and are paid interest at rates dependingon their term. Broadly speaking, the longer the period for which the bank has a guarantee that ithas access to the money deposited, the higher would be the interest rate paid to the depositor.Saving bank deposits, from which depositors are substantially free to withdraw their money, areseen as being partly held for transaction purposes and partly for saving purposes. This makesthem eligible for an interest rate that is lower than that offered on term deposits. In Indias post-Independence financial regulatory framework, the Reserve Bank of India had imposed a flexiblecap on interest rates on all deposits. However, while interest rates on fixed deposits were fully

deregulated in 1997, the interest rate on savings deposits has remained under RBI control. Thatrate had remained at 3.5 per cent from March 2003 till April this year, when it was raised to 4 per cent.

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2. History

India pursued financial sector reforms as a part of structural reforms initiated in the early 1990s.A major component of the financial sector reform process was deregulation of a complexstructure of deposit and lending interest rates. The administered interest rate structure proved to

be inefficient. It, therefore, became necessary to reform the interest rate structure. Deregulationof interest rates was intended to strengthen the competitive forces, improve allocative efficiencyof resources and strengthen the transmission of monetary policy. The process of deregulation of interest rates, which began in the early 1990s, was largely completed by October 1997. A fewcategories of interest rates that continued to be regulated on the lending side were small loans upto 2 lakhs and rupee export credit, and on the deposit side, the savings bank deposit interest rate.The rates on small loans up to 2 lakhs and rupee export credit were deregulated in July 2010,when the Reserve Bank replaced the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) system with theBase Rate system. With this, all rupee lending rates were deregulated.

The process of deregulation of deposit interest rates had begun in the 1980s. In April 1985, bankswere allowed to set interest rates for maturities between 15 days and up to 1 year, subject to aceiling of 8 per cent. It was expected that with reasonable rates of interest on maturities, bankswould be able to achieve a better distribution of term deposits rather than highly skeweddistribution around longer maturities at relatively higher costs. However, when a few banksstarted offering the ceiling rate of 8 per cent even for maturities of 15 days, other banks followedsuit without regard to consideration of profitability and set a single rate of 8 per cent for maturities starting from 15 days and up to one year. The consequence was a shift of depositsfrom current accounts and, to a lesser extent, from savings accounts to 15-day deposits.

As a result of price war among banks, the freedom to set interest rates subject to a ceiling waswithdrawn in May 1985 . The process of deregulation resumed in April 1992 when the existingmaturity-wise prescriptions were replaced by a single ceiling rate of 13 per cent for all depositsabove 46 days. The ceiling rate was brought down to 10 per cent in November 1994, but wasraised to 12 per cent in April 1995. Banks were allowed to fix the interest rates on deposits withmaturity of over 2 years in October 1995, which was further relaxed to maturity of over 1 year inJuly 1996. The ceiling rate for deposits of 30 days up to 1 year was linked to the Bank Rate less200 basis points in April 1997. In October 1997, deposit rates were fully deregulated byremoving the linkage to the Bank Rate. Consequently, the Reserve Bank gave the freedom tocommercial banks to fix their own interest rates on domestic term deposits of various maturities

with the prior approval of their respective Board of Directors/Asset Liability ManagementCommittee (ALCO). Banks were permitted to determine their own penal interest rates for premature withdrawal of domestic term deposits and the restriction on banks that they must offer the same rate on deposits of the same maturity irrespective of the size of deposits was removed inrespect of deposits of 15 lakhs and above in April 1998. Now banks have complete freedom infixing their domestic deposit rates, except interest rate on savings deposits, which continues to beregulated and is currently stipulated at 3.5 per cent.

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3. Savings Bank Introduction and Statistics

A savings deposit is a hybrid product which combines the features of both a current account anda term deposit account. While a current account is primarily meant for transaction purposes andis maintained by companies, public enterprises and business firms for meeting their day-to-dayrequirement of funds, savings accounts are maintained for both transaction and savings purposesmostly by individuals and households. A savings account being a hybrid product provides theconvenience of easy withdrawals, writing/collection of cheques and other payment facilities aswell as an avenue for parking short-term funds which earn interest The Credit Policy of May 27,1977 for the first time drew a distinction within savings deposit accounts in that a part wasconsidered as functionally transactions-oriented vis--vis the remaining part that had featuresakin to savings. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank, with effect from July 1, 1977, fixed the interestrate on savings deposits with cheque facilities, considered as transactions-oriented accounts, at3.0 per cent and the interest rate on savings deposits without cheque facilities, considered as puresavings accounts, at 5.0 per cent. However, the Credit Policy of March 2, 1978 merged these twoaccounts into a single savings account, on account of many depositors opening multiple accounts.Accordingly, the Credit Policy fixed the interest rate on savings deposit at 4.5 per cent. In April24, 1992, the interest rate on savings deposit was fixed highest at 6.0 per cent per annum. Therestrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank on the operation of savings bank account werewithdrawn and banks were given the flexibility to stipulate such restrictions. The interest rate onsavings bank deposit has been progressively reduced by the Reserve Bank. It now stands at 3.5

per cent that has remained fixed since March 2003.

Broad Features:

The operation of a savings bank account differs from bank to bank. However, still some broadfeatures could be identified:

Number of free withdrawals are generally stipulated on a half-yearly/quarterly basis. Totalnumbers of withdrawals vary between 30 and 120 per half year.

No ceiling has been stipulated on the maximum amount that can be drawn per transaction. There is generally no limit on the number of cheques that can be drawn per month. However,

some PSBs have restricted the number of cheques that can be drawn on about 20 to 25. Minimum balance is stipulated, irrespective of whether the account holder is with or without

cheque facility. The public sector banks have stipulated the minimum balance amount at 1000for metro, urban and semi-urban areas, and 500 for rural areas with cheque book facility. Theminimum balance amount stipulated without cheque book facility is 500 for metro/urban/semi-urban areas and 250 for rural areas. The minimum balance required to be maintained by privatesector and foreign banks is generally much higher than those by public sector banks.

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4. Points for deregulation

May Enhance Attractiveness of Savings Deposits

Regulation of interest rates imparts rigidity to the instrument/product as rates are either notchanged in response to changing market conditions or changed slowly. This adversely affects theattractiveness of a product/instrument. In the case of savings bank deposits, its interest rate hasremained unchanged at 3.5 per cent since March 1, 2003 even as the Reserve Banks policy ratesand call rates (representing a proxy for operative policy rate as at a time, only one rate either the repo rate or the reverse repo rate is operative depending on liquidity conditions) movedsignificantly in either direction

As the administered savings deposit interest rate has not moved in sync with the changing marketconditions, it has generally been unfavourable to savers. In order to assess the relative

attractiveness of savings deposits vis-a-vis other deposits, there is a need to know two aspects -the savings component of savings deposits (as a part of savings deposits is also for transaction

balance) and the average maturity of savings component of savings deposits (as there is no fixedmaturity for savings deposits).

Empirical evidence suggests that widening of interest rate differential between term deposits andsavings deposits leads to reduction in the share of savings bank deposits in total deposits. This

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trend is also clearly discernible in respect of population groups (rural, semi urban, urban) other than metropolitan areas, where savings deposits are not responsive to the interest rate differential.This perhaps suggests that savings deposits in metropolitan areas are held less for savings

purposes and more for transaction purposes and hence, are less responsive to interest ratechanges. Deregulation of the interest rate on savings deposit will make the rate flexible alongwith other interest rates depending on the market conditions. Since savings bank deposits inrural, semi-urban areas and urban areas are held largely for savings purposes, deregulation of interest rate is likely to enhance its attractiveness in these areas.

Will Improve Transmission of Monetary Policy

For transmission of monetary policy to be effective, it is necessary that all rates move in tandemwith the policy rates. This process, however, is impeded if the interest rate in any segment isregulated. Savings deposit constitutes a sizeable portion (about 22 per cent) of total deposits. Thefact that the savings deposit interest rate has not been changed since March 1, 2003, prima facieimplied that changes in policy rates did not transmit to savings bank deposits. The correlationcoefficients of savings deposit interest rate with both the call money rate (the operating target)and the lending rate of scheduled commercial banks were much lower than those of termdeposits. This suggests that regulation of the interest rate on savings deposits has impeded themonetary transmission and that deregulation of interest rate will help improve the transmission of monetary policy.

May Lead to Product Innovations

Savings deposits constitute about 22 per cent of total deposits. However, owing to regulation of interest rate, there is hardly any competition in this segment with both banks and depositors

acting passively. This has inhibited product innovations. The requirements of different banks anddifferent depositors are not necessarily the same. To create competition and encourage banks tointroduce innovative products, it is, therefore, necessary to deregulate savings deposit interestrate. Product innovations may include a variety of modes of operations such as branches, web-

based channels, ATMs etc. Rates offered may also differ based on the flexibility of operation of savings bank account and the degree of liquidity offered such as notice period for withdrawal,number of deposits and/or withdrawals allowed per month and percentage of amount that can bewithdrawn in any given month, among others.

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5. Points against Deregulation

Possibility of an Unhealthy Competition

A major attraction of savings deposits for banks is that it offers a low cost source of funds. Thisis evident from the fact that bank groups with higher share of CASA (current account andsavings account) deposits (of which savings deposit is a major component) enjoy relatively lowcost of deposits. However, the distribution of CASA deposits among banks is not uniform.

There are 49 banks, which have below average CASA deposits, constitute about 50 per cent of total asset of the banking sector. Therefore, given the attractiveness of savings deposits, it could

be argued that deregulation may lead to unhealthy competition amongst banks. Should it reallyhappen, it will have implications in that it will push up the cost of funds of the banking sector.This, if passed on to the borrower, will raise the cost of borrowings and if not, it will affect theinterest margins and profitability of the banking sector.

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Risk of Asset Liability Mismatches

One of the issues often raised by banks in the context of deregulation of savings bank interestrate is that in the event of deregulation, it would result in an asset-liability mismatch. This is

because, although savings bank deposits represent short-term savings and withdrawn on demand,a large part of savings deposits is treated as core deposits, which together with term depositshave been used by banks to increase their exposure to long-term loans, including infrastructureloans. If competition between banks to attract deposits raises the cost of funds, while banks arelocked into loans charging interest rates that are not changeable till maturity, the interest ratespread gets squeezed leading to lower profits or losses. Since savings deposits are seen as partlysavings products and not just maintained for transaction purposes, banks tend to treat these as

part of their core deposits, which determines how much they lend. Based on the average monthlyminimum balance maintained on savings deposits, the RBI too identifies 90 per cent of savings

bank deposits as core deposits. This implies the banks can lend relatively long against suchdeposits, increasing the probability of an interest-rate mismatch if deposit rates rise sharply due

to competition. This would result in a situation where banks suffer losses, turn fragile and faceclosure. This is in part what happened to the thrift institutions that went bankrupt during theSavings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s in the US, after US interest rates were deregulated. It is to

prevent such outcomes, leading to a systemic crisis in the banking system that savings banksdeposit interest rates were regulated in many contexts, including India.

May Lead to Financial Exclusion

Unhealthy competition result in increase in interest rate and the overall cost of funds, banksmight be discouraged from maintaining savings deposits with small amounts due to theassociated high transaction costs. This could particularly be the case with public sector banks,which have a large number of savings accounts and which allows depositors to maintain very low

balances. Thus, it is likely that banks either increase the minimum balance to be maintained or reduce the number of transactions permitted free of cost and increase the customer servicecharges too. This will discourage small savers, especially in rural and semi- urban areas fromopening savings deposits accounts. The campaign for No Frills Accounts could also suffer asetback. In sum, deregulation of savings bank deposit rate might have adverse implications for the process of financial inclusion.

The Move may not be Effective

It is unlikely that customers would switch banks anytime soon, purely on account of higher interest rate. Moreover, if you have a salary account or your bank account gets debited everymonth towards your loan commitments or even for utility bills such as electricity or telephone

bills, changing a bank account can get tedious. Also, the average Indian consumer has till nowshown little interest in moving funds from one bank to another. HNIs usually park their excessfunds in MF. Moreover, relationship with the bank and tied-in financial transactions are difficult

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to change. To add to this, post tax returns (interest and dividend) on liquid funds and ultra shortterm funds are beneficial as compared to interest on SB a/c.

Few banks have joined the race

Till now only 3 private banks such as Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank,

having relatively fewer savings accounts and hence, may be looking to attract customers who aregetting lower interest rates. Public sector banks and even large private sector banks like ICICIand HDFC have shown unwillingness to join the race.

Importance of regulation for developing countries

In the current phase of rising interest rates and increasing volumes of government market borrowings, the SB deregulation may discourage banks to undertake aggressive efforts towardsfinancial inclusion (due to higher cost of funds) and also hamper their efforts to extend low-yielding social advances. If the administered SB rates acted as the subsidy for public sector

banks, it may not be forgotten that these were the banks that lent unfailingly to low-yieldingsocial sectors even during the global crisis years. In other BRIC countries like China and Brazil,SB rates are regulated precisely for this reason. Deregulation of interest rates from theliabilities side without liberalising all rates from the assets side results in a distortion.

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6. How will Deregulation Lift the Cost of Banks?

The deregulation of savings bank deposit interest rates is expected to put additional cost pressures on banks and thereby impact their profitability. Analysts believe banks are likely tooffset the impact of this increase in interest costs partially by levying transaction and servicecharges on bank accounts.

Also, banks may pass on some of this additional cost to their loan products. Analysts believe banks will raise interest rates across the board after the recent hike in the repo rate by the ReserveBank of India (RBI). We can multiply deposits figure of 3 banks with 2% (6-4) or 1.5% (5.5-4)

Rising cost for borrowers

The interest rates on various loan products are bound to go up after the recent rate hike by theRBI. Some banks have already announced they will be increasing their loan rates shortly. The

rate hike will not pinch much in case of small quantum and short duration borrowers as they canmanage the higher interest rates by increasing the loan tenure, and keep their monthly EMIsunchanged.

On the other hand, a higher interest rate is bad for borrowers with large loans as they are boundto pay more in terms of increased EMIs. It is recommended that borrowers remain regular in their EMI payments. One can discuss with the bank in case of difficulties in paying a higher EMI.

Savings accounts forms around 23-25 per cent of overall deposits in the banking system.Analysts believe every 50 basis points increase in savings rate will push up the cost of deposit by

11-12 basis points for banks. Public sector banks will be hit more as compared to their private peers, due to strong savings deposits. Also, higher contribution of fee income in the private banks' total income provides a cushion in a rising interest rate scenario. Banks such as SBI, ICICIBank, HDFC Bank and Axis will be hit the most while Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank will be leastimpacted, say analysts.

IMPACT ANALYSIS

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Base case FY12 Impact of SB rate at4.5%

Impact of SB rate at5.0%

CASA

Ratio

(in %)

NIM

(%)

Profits *

(Rs cr)

NIM

(in bps)

Profits

(in %)

NIM

(in bps)

Profits

(in %)

Axis Bank 3.60 4,062 -20 -7.30 -30 -11.0 40.5

HDFC Bank 4.11 5,199 -22 -9.10 -22 -13.7 49.1ICICI Bank 2.55 6,535 -20 -9.70 -29 -14.6 41.9

Kotak Bank 5.36 961 -7 -2.50 -11 -3.7 27.0

Yes Bank 2.90 961 -2 -0.70 -3 -1.1 10.9

Bank of Baroda 3.03 4,752 -23 -11.30 -34 -16.9 33.9

Bank of India 2.89 3,380 -19 -13.10 -29 -19.7 30.2

Canara Bank 2.99 4,881 -21 -10.90 -31 -16.3 25.4

PNB 3.81 5,363 -28 -13.00 -42 -19.5 37.0

SBI 3.26 18,426 -30 -12.70 -45 -19.0 48.0

Union Bank 3.15 2,778 -23 -13.00 -34 -19.5 31.5CASA ratio figures are as on end of the June quarter Source: Deutsche Bank, Other banks

UNAFFORDABLE?

Bank Savings

deposits*

Additional

burden*#

Estimated %

profit fall#

State Bank of India 4,09,609 4,096 20.57

Punjab National

Bank 93,664 937 13.99

Bank of Baroda 66,096 661 11.21

Canara Bank 58,617 586 11.97

Union Bank of India

44,689 447 15.19

* in Rs cr ; # if the rate is raised by 1%; deposits as on March 31

Source: SMC Global

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7. World experience of similar deregulation

Interest rates on savings account in developed countries such as Canada, Japan, Australia, NewZealand, UK, and USA are all deregulated and determined by the commercial banks themselveson the basis of market interest rates. Most savings bank accounts may carry customer charges if the number of transactions exceeds the permissible level.

Many countries in Asia experimented with interest rate deregulation to support overalldevelopment and growth policies. Interest rates were fully deregulated in Singapore in the mid-1970s, and in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka in the early 1980s. Malaysia, Thailandand the Republic of Korea engaged in a gradual deregulation process, characterised by morefrequent adjustments and the removal of some ceilings.

Although several countries deregulated interest rates on savings bank deposits long ago, HongKong did so recently and may particularly be relevant for India. Interest rates on bank deposits in

Hong Kong, which were regulated by a set of interest rate rules (IRRs) issued by the Hong KongAssociation of Banks (HKAB), were deregulated in phases by July 2001. This involved theremoval of the interest rate cap on savings accounts and the prohibition of the payment of intereston current accounts. In response to the deregulation, a number of banks launched new productssuch as combined savings and checking accounts and Hong Kong inter-bank offered rate(HIBOR) linked savings products. Some also revised fees and charges and minimum balancerequirements, and introduced tiered structures of interest rates.

Based on an examination of the effects of interest rate regulation and subsequent deregulationon the efficacy of monetary policy and rigidity of retail bank deposit rates in Hong Kong, Chong

(2010) found that interest rate deregulation had increased the efficacy of monetary policy byimproving the correlation between retail bank deposit rates and market interest rates andincreasing the degree of long-term pass-through for retail bank deposit rates. He also showedthat the adjustments in retail bank deposit rates were asymmetric and rigid upwards during theregulated period, but tended to be rigid downwards during the deregulated period. The spreads

between retail bank deposit rates and market rates also narrowed sharply after the removal of interest rate controls.

Rates on savings accounts in China are regulated by the Peoples Bank of China, which specifiesceiling interest rates on these accounts. Currently, the cap is at 0.5 per cent per annum. Theaccount provides easy access to deposited funds. Interest rates are calculated on a daily product

basis. The savings account comes with a choice of either a passbook savings or a statementsavings account. There is no charge for the transactions carried out in the savings account and theminimum balance in these accounts is very low at RMB

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In countries in which financial sector reforms also included interest rate deregulation, the actionwas primarily taken because real rates were negative, and were being propelled by inflationary

pressures. The most immediate result of financial deregulation in these select Asian economieswas the enhancement and maintenance of positive real interest rates, which, in turn, contributedto an increase in financial savings. It also forced a diminution in the financial marketsegmentation exemplified by smaller dispersion of interest rates. The deregulatory process on theinterest rate structure combined with the central banks credible monetary policy measures for anchoring inflation expectations led to positive real rates of interest at least temporarily for Asiancountries, viz., Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, although only the first two countriessustained a positive real interest rate structure.

On the whole, cross-country experience shows that in most countries, interest rates on savings bank accounts have been deregulated and are now fixed by commercial banks based on themarket interest rates. Banks generally offer variable interest rates on savings deposits. Savings

bank deposits have similar characteristics such as simple procedures with no limit on the length

of the maturity. Further, there is a low or no minimum amount for opening of the savingsaccounts and banks generally charge fees for various services offered to the depositors.

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8. Views of the industry

Experts and analysts have said the 25 basis points rate hike by Reserve Bank , accompanied by adovish guidance for the future, was largely on expected lines but cautioned that its move toderegulate rates on savings accounts will put lenders under pressure.

"On expected lines the central bank raised the policy rates...the cumulative effect of increasedinterest rates will manifest in cooling down demand and inflation, and we might see the effects inthe last quarter of FY12," consultancy firm Ernst & Young's National Leader (Global FinancialServices), Ashvin Parekh said.

Maintaining that the hike was "justified", leading ratings agency Crisil said, "The rate hike could be the last one, only if downward pressures on inflation remain dominant." It also said there issufficient data available to indicate that RBI will achieve its target of having inflation at 7 per cent by March 2012.

On the apex bank's move to peg down growth to 7.6 per cent, American investment bank Goldman Sachs sounded sceptical. "Our FY12 GDP growth forecast remains at 7 per cent withdownside risks and we think the RBI may need to still revise its growth forecasts downwards."

Crisil's rival Fitch, however, said the combination of rate hikes and savings rates deregulationhave come as a double blow to the banks, who are not able to pass on the RBI hikes to borrowerson low credit demand. "The combination of another interest rate rise and the deregulation of Indian savings accounts puts more pressure on the banks," Fitch Ratings said in a statement.

Banks have written to the RBI stating they are not in favour of a deregulated savings rates regimeand such a move would "hurt everybody" in the system.

"It is the view of our members that it is not an appropriate time to deregulate the savings rate because of the upward bias in the interest rates currently and the general high rate scenario,"Indian Banks Association (IBA) Chief Executive K Ramakrishnan.

While expressing reservation on deregulating savings rate, the recently retired chairman of theState Bank of India , Om Prakash Bhatt, said: "A bank may pay 1% or less for those accountholders who have small deposits and 5% if they are willing to keep Rs 50,000 in savings account.

This in turn will impact small depositors."

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9. Conclusion

Savings deposit interest rate has not been deregulated for the reason that a large portion of suchdeposits is held by low income households in rural and semi-urban areas. It is more than 13 yearswhen the deposit interest rates, other than savings deposits, were deregulated. The issue,therefore, is how relevant are these concerns in todays context and what will be the implicationsif savings deposit interest rate is deregulated.

Regulation of savings deposit interest rate has imparted rigidity as savings deposit interest ratehas not been changed since March 1, 2003 although other interest rates have moved in either direction. Interest rate paid on savings deposits was lower than those on term deposits of allmaturities, other than for term deposits at very short end for a brief period. Thus, it is the saver who has been affected adversely because rate of return on savings deposit has generally beennegative and unattractive vis--vis short term deposits.

However, some concerns have also been raised with regard to deregulation of savings depositsinterest rate. Savings deposits have been a source of cheap funds for banks. This is reflected inthe low cost of deposits in respect of those banks which hold relatively high proportion of CASAdeposits (a major portion of which is savings deposits). In addition, banks treat a large portion of savings deposits as core deposits, which has been used to finance long-term assets. However,distribution of savings deposits is skewed among banks with some banks enjoying relatively highshare of savings deposits than others. It has also been observed that a large number of banks(accounting for about half of the size of the banking sector) hold CASA deposits lower than theaverage CASA deposits. In view of this pattern, banks have often raised the concern thatderegulation may lead to an unhealthy competition. This, in turn, may result in large shift of deposits from some banks exposing them to a serious risk of asset-liability mismatch.

The experience with deregulation of term deposits interest rate also suggests that deregulationresulted only in a marginal shift of deposits from public sector banks and foreign banks to privatesector banks. Thus, if deregulation of term deposits interest rate is any guide, deregulation of savings deposit interest rate may not result in an unhealthy competition and a large shift of deposits from one bank to another, thereby destabilising the system. Further, the Reserve Bank has deregulated the entire asset side and bulk of liability side of banks balance sheets. In such ascenario, continuing regulation of savings deposit interest rate leads to distortions in the system,which need to be avoided.

However, analysis of interest rates on term deposits after they were deregulated did not result inany unhealthy competition amongst banks. Although spreads (the difference between the termdeposits interest rate over the relevant policy rate) tended to widen somewhat in a deregulatedenvironment in comparison with when interest rates were regulated, this was not unusual assimilar or somewhat higher spreads were observed in recent years. Thus, if deregulation of term

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deposits did not lead to any unhealthy competition, deregulation of savings deposit rate may alsonot result in any unhealthy competition.

Concerns have also been expressed with regard to the interests of low income households in aderegulated environment. There is a risk that in a deregulated environment when the cost of maintaining such deposits becomes high, banks may introduce such features as may prevent

small depositors from accessing such accounts. While attractive returns may encourage lowincome households to open such accounts, it may also reduce accessibility of such accounts for small savers if banks impose some restrictions on the operation of such accounts. However, suchissues are better addressed by regulatory prescriptions rather than by regulation of interest rates.

In sum, deregulation of savings deposit interest rates has both pros and cons. Savings depositinterest rate cannot be regulated for all times to come when all other interest rates have already

been deregulated as it creates distortions in the system. International experience suggests that inmost of the countries, interest rates on savings bank accounts are set by the commercial banks

based on market interest rates. Most countries in Asia experimented with interest rate

deregulation to support overall development and growth policies. These resulted in positive realinterest rates, which in turn contributed to an increase in financial savings. Deregulation of savings bank deposit interest rate also led to product innovations.

Hours after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) freed savings bank rate, Yes Bank Ltd raised therate by 2 percentage points and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd followed suit. No other banks haveresponded yet to this move, but many fear there will be a rate war to woo savings bank depositors. Not too many banks are expected to match the Yes Bank offer as they are not asstarved of savings bank deposits as Yes Bank is, but one thing for sure is that they will be forcedto innovate. Consumers will gain little extra interest income now when inflation is high, but atthe cost of convenience as banks will try to limit the number of transactions and other peripheralstuff such as accounts statements and cheque books, etc., for low-value customers to cut cost.They will also discourage branch visits of customers as the cost per transaction in a bank branchis the highest. Alternative channels such as automated teller machines, Internet banking and

phone banking will be encouraged to lower cost of transactions. On Positive side, freeing of savings bank accounts will encourage foreign and new private banks to enter rural India, thetraditional stronghold of state-run banks, to raise relatively cheap money.

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9. References

www.business-standard.com

www.investmentyogi.com

www.financialexpress.com

banking.contify.com

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news_html_files/broker_report/2011/Nov-0

311-67031111.pdf

Sr. No. Content Page No.

1 Introduction & project methodology 6

2 Internal evaluation and process review 8

A. Internal evaluation as per opportunity internationalframework

8

B. Internal evaluation based on additional parameters 27

3 Client impact assessment 38

4 Recommendations based on overall evaluation 43

5. Annexures 47

19
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Deregulation of Savings Bank Rate_Final

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