Global banking giant Standard Chartered has raised its minimum rate of lending by 25 basis points to 9.75 percent to become the second foreign lender to hike its base rate. The rate hike,which comes amidst a high interest rate scenario and over a month after the Reserve Bank hiked its key short term rates by a higher-than-expected 50 basis points,is effective September 1. "The base rate has been arrived at considering the 6-9 months term-deposit rate blended with current and savings account (CASA) cost,and other elements that are common across all categories of borrowers," the bank's website says. With an eye on the inflation number,which stood at an uncomfortable 9.22 percent for July,RBI has hiked its key rates a record 11 times since March 2010,the last being on July 26. Reacting to the RBI tightening,StanC's rival Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) had become the first foreign lender to hike its base rate by 50 bps to 9.75 per cent on August 3. HSBC had also hiked its deposit rates but it was immediately not known if StanChart has also hiked its deposit rates.
