Private lender YES Bank on Thursday, June 8, said it expects a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in this financial year (FY24), but inflation has to come down first.

Share Market Live

NSE

Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18 at the PWC Banking Dialogues, Prashant Kumar, managing director, and chief executive officer, said he does not see the possibility of a rate cut as long as inflation remains elevated. It would be good to see a rate cut in this financial year, he added.

Kumar said, "The inflation would be definitely dependent, this time on the monsoon. But also in terms of the supply chain. What happens in the international markets? And if there are recessions around the world, if the demands would be low, and there will be issues in terms of raw material prices, and if the inflation is not coming down, I think we don't see the rate cuts coming."

The central bank left its key interest rate unchanged for a second straight policy meeting but signalled that it wants to see inflation moderate more while preserving the growth momentum. It decided 5:1 to retain the policy stance focused on "withdrawal of accommodation," which was introduced in April last year.

Further, Kumar said, "I think in the past few years, we have been able to do successfully in terms of opening their liability accounts, making the transactions available, very conveniently, but I think the next phase is how we can cover from the credit perspective. So I think a very large population today is not covered and there I think all of us are seeing the opportunity."

The CEO said YES Bank has been always very supportive of the partnership between banks and the fintechs. Today, YES Bank is almost contributing 40 percent to the UPI transaction and it's touching almost 10 billion a month. Now, the bank is talking about 1 billion every day in the next three years.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Jun 8, 2023 6:56 PM IST