The savings deposit rate, however, continued to be regulated; it remained unchanged at 3.5 per cent since March 1, 2003 (revised to 4 per cent in May 2011) even as other deposit rates moved in either direction in response to the Reserve Bank’s policy rate calibration. 33. The advisability of deregulating this last vestige of administered interest rate structure continued to be debated.
Money and credit growth remained very robust during 2006, mainly reflecting the stimulative effects of the low level of interest rates and the strength of economic activity. The persistent underlying rate of monetary expansion since mid-2004 has resulted in the accumulation of a stock of liquidity which is ample by all plausible measures.