Equitas Small Finance Bank Hikes Savings Account Interest Rates As Deposit Crunch Continues
Equitas SFB will offer 7% interest on savings account deposits of Rs 10-25 lakh, and 7.25% for deposits between Rs 25 lakh-1 crore.
A board with signage for Equitas Small Finance Bank. (Source: NDTV Profit)
Equitas Small Finance Bank on Thursday said that it is raising interest rates on its savings account deposits and introducing new categories.
In an exchange notification, the bank said it will continue to offer interest at the rate of 3% to savings account customers for deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh. The bank, however, has introduced a new savings deposit slab of Rs 1-10 lakh where depositors can get 5% per annum.
Similarly, Equitas SFB will offer 7% interest on savings account deposits of Rs 10-25 lakh, and 7.25% for deposits between Rs 25 lakh-1 crore.
For deposits between Rs 1-25 crore, depositors will earn 7.5% per annum and 7.8% interest will continue for deposits larger than Rs 25 crore.
Previously, the bank had fewer deposit slabs, with deposits between Rs 7 lakh to Rs 25 crore earning only 7% interest.
The announcement comes at a time when lenders have been struggling to shore up low-cost current account savings account deposits. For Equitas SFB, CASA deposits dropped 4.24% sequentially to Rs 11,668 crore in the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to provisional data the bank released on Jan 4. CASA ratio dropped to 29%, down 200 basis points quarter-on-quarter.
While deposit growth had picked up across banks in November, it fell again as of December 27. Reserve Bank of India’s fortnightly data showed that bank deposits rose 9.8% year-on-year in the last fortnight of December, compared with 11% in the previous few fortnights.
