"The worst in the economy is over. Economic data indicate things are better," State Bank of India Chairman O P Bhatt said after bankers met Reserve Bank Governor D Subbarao in Mumbai.

On the RBI cutting both the repo and reverse repo rates by 0.25 percentage points each, Bhatt said that the apex bank had sent a clear signal that interest rates should ease.

"It (the RBI rate cuts) is a very clear-cut signal that interest rates should ease," he said.

Different banks would respond differently to the rate cuts, he said, when asked whether he expected an industry-wide reduction in lending rates.

State Bank would take a decision on rates only after a meeting of its asset-liability committee (ALCO) on the issue, he said.

According to him, the non-performing assets (NPA) position in the industry was not unmanageable.

The premier public sector lender expects both its credit and deposit growth to be 25 per cent during this fiscal.