Took a loan from a PSU bank? rejoice your decision

If you have taken a loan from a public sector bank, it is certainly the time to rejoice your decision. For, you have an edge over the consumers who have taken loans from private sector banks, as you can now avail cheaper loans. While public sector banks, after recently being exhorted by finance minister P Chidambaram, have slashed their benchmark prime lending rates by 50 basis points (some banks have done it in two phases) private sector banks, except Axis Bank, have refused to budge. The public sector and private sector banks have taken different stands on reduction of lending rates. KV Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank had said he did not expect the country's central bank to ease key rates soon. "Till we have clear signals we keep rates steady,'' he said adding that the bank would wait and watch. Aditya Puri, managing director of HDFC Bank said the days of cheaper loans are over unless something changes very drastically. To check inflationary pressure, the central had kept the short term lending rates steady at 7.75% in the quarterly policy review on January 29 but Reddy had opined that commercial banks could lower rates