'Axis Bank would like to be at forefront of acquisition financing'

How much would you look to sell if you do so?

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Amitabh Chaudhry, Axis Bank MD&CEO

= This was not driven by a desire to sell a stake per se. It was driven by Axis Finance’s funding requirements over the next couple of years. Our objective was to raise sufficient capital for Axis Finance, and, accordingly, we had assessed that the company would need %2,000 crore-3,000 crore to support its plans over that period. Based on the valuation, whatever stake needed to be sold to raise that amount, we were comfortable proceeding along that path.

How will your margins be affected because of the rate cut in December?

= We had indicated there would be a dip in the net interest margin (NIM) in the third quarter, after which we expected improvement, assuming there was no further rate cut. With the recent cut, it will take a little longer for us to absorb the impact because the reduction will be passed on to borrowers. And this will be the case not just for us but the banking industry. That said, we are at the bottom of the NIM cycle or very close to it. We expect over the next couple of quarters the NIM will start to improve. We continue to stand by our guidance of delivering a 3.8 per cent NIM through the cycle.

How difficult is it to cut deposit rates?