Punjab National Bank hikes interest rates

MUMBAI: A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised repo rate and cash reserve ratio, public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday became the first bank to hike benchmark prime lending rates (PLR).

PNB has increased its PLR by 100 basis points (bps), or one percentage point, from 13 percent to 14 percent effective from Aug 1.

The New Delhi-based PNB has also increased deposit rates by 25-100 bps and its interest rates prescribed for retail advances (not linked to PLR) by 100 bps.

The RBI Tuesday announced that the lrepo rate, or the short-term lending rate, and the cash reserve ratio (CRR), were being hiked by 50 basis points and 25 basis points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the bank announced a net profit of Rs.5.12 billion for the first quarter of 2008-09 compared to Rs.4.25 billion over the corresponding period last year.

The total income during the quarter increased to Rs.45.94 billion from Rs 37.95 billion of the year-ago period.