Country's private lender, HDFC Bank does not face any crisis from the collapse of the US financial giant Lehman Brothers. A top official of the bank said that HCFC did not have any major exposure to the US investment bank. Jagdish Capoor, Chairman of HDFC Bank said, "I don't think the bank has any exposure to Lehman." Although the global financial crisis would have an adverse impact on the Indian financial sector but it would not extend to a huge amount. The economy is likely to be protected by the major crisis. "We have already seen some impact. This is because people are withdrawing assets from the market," said the Chairman. However, the prevailing crisis is expected to affect the liquidity conditions in the country and therefore the government along with RBI has resorted to various measures to prevent the shortfall of funds. Capoor said that liquidity still remained tight in the system. Capoor's views on inflation mentioned that the prevailing high rate may start coming down on account of the softening global crude oil and commodity prices. "It (inflation) has peaked...Should recede now," he said. HDFC Bank is expected to suffer Rs 17-crore, the mark-to-market (MTM) loss because of its rupee swap and forex option deals with Lehman Brothers. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised banks to unwind their interest rate swap (IRS) transactions with Lehman Brothers, even as the 158-year-old investment banking giant's market loss over the past year exceeded the combined market loss of all Indian banks put together for the same period. |