By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : State Bank of Travancore (SBT) Monday announced a 0.5 percent hike in interest rates for domestic term deposits and non-resident ordinary term deposits, with effect from Tuesday.
In a statement issued here Monday, the bank said the lowest interest rate for deposits up to two weeks would be 3.5 percent and for deposits up to two years would fetch a rate of 9.5 percent.
There are over two million non-resident Keralites, with more than 80 percent working in West Asia.
SBT’s NRI deposit stood at Rs.84.02 billion ($1.95 billion) in the last fiscal – the highest among the banks in the state.
A senior SBT official told IANS a representative office would soon be operational in Dubai.
SBT’s services in West Asia include ‘rupee drawing arrangements’ with 21 exchange companies in the region.
The Bank also has ‘speed remittance facility’ arrangements with exchange companies in the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait.
It has also introduced a ‘zero balance NRE (non-resident external rupee) account’ scheme for people going abroad for employment for the first time.