On the issue of home loan rates, Parekh said the company has been reviewing them and if the cost of funds comes down for the company, the benefits will certainly be extended to retail customers. However, he ruled out the possibility of the rates going northwards for the next three-four months. “There is sufficient liquidity so far in the market. I don’t think it is going to harden that much at least in the next three to four months,” he said when asked if the large government borrowing programme will have an adverse impact on the interest rates.

“The government’s borrowing programme is over a longer period of time and the finance minister did say he will work with the RBI and find a way to minimise the borrowing,” he said. The government plans to borrow nearly Rs 4,00,000 crore from the markets during 2009-10, up by almost 50 per cent from 2008-09, for funding the widening fiscal deficit necessitated after three stimulus packages for the economy.