The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India has said that the chances of interest rates getting hiked in the short term are negligible.

SBI Chariman, O.P.Bhatt said that there is no possibility of interest rates getting hiked in the short term.

Bhatt had earlier also said that interest rates would not go up till the time there is sufficient liquidity in the system.

"If there continues to be sufficient liquidity in the system, the chances of interest rates going up in the near future are not there; but having said that hopefully credit growth will pick up," he had said.

He said that the bank expects its loan book to grow by 20% this fiscal. He however said that there may not be many recruitments this year.

Talking about its merger with the State Bank of Indore, he said that the bank has already decided the swap ratio of 34: 100 for the merger.

The bank holds 98% stake in State Bank of Indore. After this merger only five associate banks of SBI would remain operational namely State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.