State Bank of India (SBI) will not increase interest rates for a range of existing home and education loan customers’.

Even as the shift may be partially influenced by the earlier finance ministry recommendation that banks should not rush through rate increases.

The banks’ asset liability committee (Alco) that gathered on late Thursday evening, has suggested to the bank panel that the standard prime-lending rate (PLR) may be hiked up by 50-75 basis points. At this time, the bank’s PLR is 12.25%.

With RBI rates increase, car loan providers have raised interest rates by 75 to 100 basis points. The enhancement would mean a monthly increase of Rs 50 for a five-year loan having a daily rest basis.

ICICI Bank’s direct selling agents (DSAs) said they have accepted an official report from the bank on the cost increase effective from Monday. Rack rates are inclusive of DSA commissions.

The officials stated, “We used to lend at rack rates of 15% per annum, we are now been told that the new rates will be 16% effective from Monday.”

Is Mumbai ready to be a global financial hub or not? This question will be answered by the Union Cabinet shortly.

There are a number of recommendations to enable Mumbai join the league of London, New York and Singapore as one of the premier IFCs of the world, from the high-powered expert committee (HPEC) on making Mumbai an international financial centre (IFC). The report submitted to the FM (finance minister) on Tuesday will be out before the Cabinet shortly.

According to HPEC, the Indian purchases of international financial services (IFS) touched $13 billion in 2005 and are expected to be in the range of $50-70 billion by 2015. Therefore, it has been stated that “if the country does not proceed on establishment of an IFC, the revenues will go to other IFCs”.