The recent policy rate hike seems not to have come as a jitter to small private lenders. These lenders like Catholic Syrian Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and City Union Bank have already raised their base rate before RBI's rate hike announcement.

"Having increased the rate just ahead of the RBI's review of the policy, we will not be jacking up the rates further now. We will wait and see," said Managing Director and Chief Executive of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Mr A.K. Jagannathan.

"We have already factored this hike. A further hike, therefore, may not be immediate," was the response shared by Mr V.P. Iswardas, Managing Director of Catholic Syrian Bank.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank's Chief Executive, Mr P.R. Somasundaram said, "I am illogically optimistic about the future, as everything seems loaded to one side."