Mumbai, Jan 31: Bank of Baroda today categorically stated that it had no immediate plans to reduce the lending rates as the current net interest margin of three per cent was just adequate enough.

Bank Chairman and Managing director A K Kandelwal, announcing the third quarter results of the Bank to presspersons, however, said ''we are a thinking bank and we always take a wait and watch attitude''. He was responding to questions from pressmen in the wake of RBI Governor Y V Reddy seeking the banks to revisit the lending rates in view of adequate liquidity in the system at the post monetary policy review press conference on Tuesday.

The situation in the Banking system was entirely different, Dr Kandelwal said adding that the operating cost of Indian banks was quite high and the productivity was not comparable to banks in other countries.

He said the challenges before the banking sector was enormous though it had absorbed technology and emerged out of difficult non performing assets position. The future of the banking system had problems in the form of availability of competent human resources and shifting to new and innovtive products.

The Bank had for the first nine months of the current fiscal earned a net profit of Rs.1,159.08 crore, recording a 48.5 per cent increase over the net profit earned during the corresponding period last fiscal. It was 12.9 per cent more than the profit earned for the full year in 2006-07. For the quarter ending December 31, the net profit was up by 52.2 per cent at Rs 501.05 crore.


UNI