The country's largest lender, State Bank of India has been questioned by the parliamentary standing committee why has it not declared its base rate when it had itself set the deadline of June 15 for the same.

The members of the committee sought answers from SBI on whether it was awaiting the private sector counterparts to declare their base rates first. The banking major has said that it would be presenting a written reply to all the questions.

Both UPA and opposition party members agreed to the fact that banks should declare their base rate before finally implementing it so that borrowers can be better informed and get time to think on the issue and take their decisions. Base rate is coming into play from 1st July 2010.

"SBI was to take the lead in announcing the base rate on June 15. However, there has been a delay. The committee asked SBI why it could not announce its base rate," a UPA member said.