SBI Chairman demands tax relief on interest income in Budget 2024-24: State Bank of India Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has said that the central government should consider reducing income tax on interest income in the upcoming budget. He has said that if the tax on interest income is reduced, it will encourage people to save more and will help banks to collect more deposits. Khara has said that when the deposits with banks increase, they can be used to fund large long-term infrastructure projects. It is expected that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the full budget for the financial year 2024-25 in Parliament next month.
Bank deposits are useful in capital formation of the country: Khara
SBI (State Bank of India) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara said in an interview to news agency PTI that if the government gives any relief in the current tax applicable on interest income in the upcoming budget, then it will encourage those who deposit money in banks. He said that it is necessary to do so, because the banking sector ultimately uses all its deposits for capital formation in the country. Under the current rules of income tax, if the interest received in a year on the accounts of a customer in all branches is more than Rs 40 thousand, then banks have to deduct tax (TDS) on it. In the case of savings account, only annual income up to Rs 10 thousand is tax-free.
Credit growth expected to be 14-15%: Khara
Keeping in mind the current economic growth rate of the country, the SBI chairman has expressed hope that the loan growth rate will be around 14 to 15 percent during 2024-25. He said that usually to calculate the loan or credit growth rate, we first add the inflation rate to the GDP growth rate and then add another 2-3 percent to it. The estimate of growth rate around 14-15 percent is based on similar calculations. He said that this credit growth of 14-15 percent depends on getting adequate lending opportunities and it is also in line with our risk taking ability. Khara said that if the growth rate remains like this, it will be a matter of happiness for us. He told that as far as deposits are concerned, there was a growth of 11 percent in it last year.
SBI has excess SLR of Rs 3.5-4 lakh crore: Khara
The SBI chief said that the bank has extra SLR, due to which there is no pressure on us to increase deposit interest rates to maintain our loan-to-deposit ratio. He told that SBI has extra SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) of Rs 3.5 lakh crore to Rs 4 lakh crore. While the loan-deposit ratio of the bank is around 68-69.