India’s second largest bank, ICICI Bank, has followed the lead of the largest public lender, State bank of India in deciding not to increase the interest rates. However, the bank said that this decision is in no ways permanent. It will closely monitor interest rate trends and the Reserve Bank of India's steps for managing inflation before making a final call on the interest rates.

Presently, ICICI Bank's benchmark prime lending rate is among the highest in the industry at 15.75%. Prime lending rate (PLR) is the interest rate that commercial banks charge their most credit-worthy customers.

ICICI Bank felt that most banks were waiting for RBI's quarterly review next month before they decide to take a call on interest rates. Executive Director V Vaidyanathan, who worked with Citibank till 2000, confirmed this news.

He also talked about a new ICICI venture called ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth launched which has undertaken a new initiative, Read to Lead, to help 100,000 disadvantaged children access formal education.

ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its wholly-owned subsidiary. ICICI was formed in 1955 at the initiative of the World Bank, the Government of India and representatives of Indian industry. The objective was to create a development financial institution for providing medium-term and long-term project financing to Indian businesses. Presently, the Bank has a network of about 573 branches and extension counters and over 2,000 ATMs.