The public sector lender, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), may register a 0.10 percent decline in its net interest margin (NIM) for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2012-13. On the matter, the Managing Director of SBBJ, Mr. Shiva Kumar said, "We cut our base rate to 10.25 per cent during the quarter, ahead of many other banks, and there was no climb down in deposit rates which will affect our margins."

He added that the bank's NIM, which is the difference between the interest income (earned) and the interest expenditure (paid), was recorded at 3.90 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal and was expected to "drop by 0.10 percent in Q3". It should be noted that NIM is the key indicator of a bank's profitability, with a high margin indicating a high profitability.

The associate bank of State Bank of India, SBBJ, may also reduce its interest rates on deposits by 0.50 percent if Reserve Bank of India cuts the repo rate by 0.25 percent in the next monetary policy announcement, a move many analysts expect the central bank to make.

As of now, SBBJ is focusing on retail loans, like home loans, education loans, auto loans etc, for its credit growth amidst the financial slowdown in the economy.