Vocabulary For IBPS Clerk Mains Examination

The country’s biggest lender reducing lending rates by 30
basis points to three things: one, the general rule of demand and supply works
in the case of loans, as well; the RBI has all along been right in insisting
that there is room for banks to lend lower even without policy rates being cut
further; and, the government has to step up public investment to revive growth.

 State Bank of India, it has been reported, made more
money in the first nine months of this financial year from fines on customers
whose deposits dipped below the minimum balance requirement than its profits
for the second quarter.

The banks are awash(1) with liquidity and the
demand for credit is anemic. So, SBI pared down(2) its deposit rates and
has now lowered the lending rate, presumably(3), to attract fresh
borrowers. This is welcome.

Equally welcome is the bank’s savvy(4) move to
offer the lower rate to existing borrowers, in contrast to the normal practice
of reserving such benefits for new customers.

This should make SBI customers less eager to be tempted(5)
by rival offers from other banks. In the new year, the world economy is
expected to strengthen, across the board. This should see monetary tightening in
the US and Europe and, possibly, even in Japan.

That would make it harder for India’s monetary policy to
turn accommodative(6), for fear of making the dollar efflux(7), inevitable(8)
when the risk-free return in industrial countries goes up, even stronger and putting
downward pressure on the rupee. If with no reduction in the repo rate and a
prospect of the rate hardening, if anything, the banks’ lending rates go down,
it bears out(9) the proposition that banks have the scope to reduce
lending rates without additional policy action by the central bank.

Sluggish(10) demand for credit does not speak of
rude economic health. Supply of loans will not, by itself, create demand. That
has to come from giving stalled investment a push, of the kind the government
has promised via its Bharatmala and rail expansions. The government has to get
infrastructure investment going, and revive the public-private-partnership mode
to that end.

1. Awash [uh-wosh, uh-wawsh]

Adjective: just level with or scarcely above the surface
of the water, so that waves break over the top, as the upper deck of a ship in a
heavy sea; covered with water; washing about; tossed about by the waves;
covered, filled, or crowded.

Synonyms: afloat, flooded, inundated, flush, flushed, overflowing.

2. Pare down

Verb: to cut someone down to something or a smaller size.

3. Presumably [pri-zoo-muh-blee]

Adverb: by assuming reasonably; probably.

Synonyms: apparently, doubtless, probably, seemingly, supposedly,
surely, presumptively, assumably, credible, doubtlessly, hypothetically, in all
likelihood, in all probability, indubitably, it would seem, most likely, on the
face of it, theoretically, unquestionably.

Antonyms: improbably, questionably, uncertain, unlikely.

4. Savvy [sav-ee]

Adjective: experienced, knowledgable, and well-informed;
shrewd (often used in combination): consumers who are savvy about prices.

Noun: practical understanding; shrewdness or
intelligence; common sense.

Verb: to know; understand.

5. Tempt [tempt]

Verb: to entice or allure to do something often regarded as
unwise, wrong, or immoral; to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite; to render
strongly disposed to do something.

Synonyms: appeal to, attract, captivate, charm, dare, fascinate,
induce, intrigue, invite, motivate, persuade, seduce, stimulate, tantalize, woo,
allure, bait, coax, court, decoy, draw, entrap, honey, hook, incite, influence,
instigate, inveigle, move, oil, promote.

Antonyms: bore, depress, discourage, disenchant.

6. Accommodative [uh-kom-uh-dey-tiv]

Adjective: tending to accommodate; adaptive.

7. Efflux [ef-luhks]

Noun: outward flow, as of water; something that flows
out; effluence; a passing or lapse of time; a passing away; expiration; ending.

Synonyms: discharge, effluence, emanation.

8. Inevitable [in-ev-i-tuh-buh l]

Adjective: unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped;
certain; necessary; sure to occur, happen, or come; unalterable.

Noun: that which is unavoidable.

Synonyms: imminent, impending, inescapable, inexorable, irresistible,
necessary, unavoidable, undeniable, binding, doomed, pat, all locked up, assured,
compulsory, decided, decreed, destined, determined, fated, fateful, fixed, for
certain, foreordained, in the bag, ineluctable.

Antonyms: avoidable, distant, escapable, later.

9. Bear out

Verb: to support or prove a claim or idea.

10. Sluggish [sluhg-ish]

Adjective: indisposed to action or exertion; lacking in
energy; lazy; indolent; not acting or working with full vigor, as bodily
organs; slow to act or respond.

Synonyms: heavy, inactive, lethargic, listless, slack, slow,
stagnant, apathetic, blah, comatose, dopey, down, dragging, draggy, drippy, hebetudinous,
indolent.

Antonyms: active, alert, busy, energetic.