Lowering the cash deposit ratio or the proportion of deposits which banks are mandatorily required to park with the RBI will help the lenders facing low deposit growth, SBI Managing Director Ashwini Kumar Tewari said on Monday.

Conversations for such a cut are on, he told reporters here, clarifying that the country’s largest lender does not need such a reduction as it is well placed on the liquidity front.

There has not been any formal request for a CRR cut made either, he added.

Speaking at an event organised by domestic rating agency Careedge, Tewari said, “We have to look at various avenues for helping tide over the challenge posed by lower deposit growth”, and specifically mentioned a request to get bank deposits at par with capital market investments while referring to CRR and SLR.

To a question on whether the bank has sought a CRR cut, he said, “We have not sought any formal dispensation, but it is a conversation we continue to have. I don’t think there is any move to do this at the moment”.

When asked if a CRR cut will help banks tide over the continuing wedge between the credit and deposit growth, he said, “Of course, it will help”.

The economy will need resources to help fund the growth, he said, adding that 90 per cent of all economic activity is funded by the banks.

SBI’s statutory liquidity ratio or investments in government bonds are 2-3 per cent higher and hence, it may not benefit as much. But there are banks running credit deposit ratios of up to 90 per cent for whom the CRR cut, which expands the lendable resources for a bank, will be of help.