RBI likely to further hike repo rate by 45 to 50 basis points, says Punjab and Sind Bank managing director

New Delhi [India], November 5 (ANI): Punjab and Sind Bank is expecting a hike of 50 basis points in the Repo Rate, said its managing director Swarup Kumar Saha.
In an exclusive interaction with ANI, Saha said the Bank of England has increased interest rate and we find that the Reserve Bank of India will also further hike the repo rate by 45 to 50 basis points.
Saha told ANI, "In view of the global dynamic situation, the Bank of England has also increased the interest rates. We find that the RBI will like to have one round of further hikes of 45 to 50 basis points. Saha said that it could be largely discounted now by markets. Anything beyond that will depend on how the global dynamics will work out in future. My personal view is that the rate hike cycle is peaking near the future. I assume there would be another round of rate hikes shortly."
Saha said that in his opinion, RBI will hike the repo rate for one or two quarters, but that will check the inflation and as per the guidance given by RBI, there will be normalcy after that Inflation will come under control. Punjab & Sind Bank on Saturday said its net profit rose 27 per cent to Rs 278 crore in the second quarter of FY23 on the back of a reduction in bad loans. The bank had reported a profit of Rs 218 crore in the year-ago period.
The bank's total income during the July-September quarter of FY23 rose to Rs 2,120.17 crore against Rs 1,974.78 crore in the corresponding period of FY22, Punjab & Sind Bank said in a regulatory filing. The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 9.67 per cent of the gross advances at the end of September 2022 from 14.54 per cent during the same period a year ago.
Talking about the financial results, Saha said that the bank has seen a growth of 10.81 per cent in the housing loan segment. Affordable housing is witnessing sustainable growth and has a lot of traction. Prices of affordable housing are competitive. Vehicle loan has seen a growth of 19.76 per cent and personal loan has witnessed a growth of 100 per cent. 100 per cent is due to the approved personal loan product that the bank introduced which comprises Rs130 cr.
Talking about the response to sales in the festive season Saha said that the festive season response was good which will reflect in our next quarter's result. Our bank has come with festive officers like nil processing fees and designed some products which got a good response.
Regarding the expansion plan, Saha said the bank had planned to open 50 branches in different states. 25 branches will open this quarter and 25 will be opened next quarter.
Talking about NARCL accounts, Saha said that we have identified accounts of Rs 1590 cr. We are hopeful that this process of NARCL which has taken a frantic pace for resolution, we feel that we will be able to get some returns from that asset sale from NARCL.
Talking about the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) Saha said that our gross NPA on September 21 was 14.54 per cent and in June it was 11.34 per cent, so we have brought it down to 9.6 per cent in terms of gross NPA. The net NPA has come down to 2.24 per cent from 3.81 per cent on September 21. (ANI)