It has indeed turned out to be a happy new year for the borrowers of SBI. It has not only reduced base rates for existing borrowers but has also decided to extend on-going waiver on home loan processing fees till March 31, 2018 for new borrowers.
Surprising its customers, India’s largest bank State Bank of India has reduced lending interest rate by 30 basis points (bps) to 8.65 percent with effect from January 01, 2018.
Around 80 lakh borrowers are likely to benefit from this reduction. “Base rate reduced from 08.95% p.a. to 8.65% p.a. w.e.f. 01.01.2018,” SBI said on its website.
Base rate is the minimum lending rate below which banks cannot lend.
Additionally, bank has decided to extend on-going waiver on home loan processing fees till March 31, 2018 for new customers keen on buying their dream house and other customers looking to switch their existing loans to SBI.
The bank has also reduced BPLR (Benchmark Prime Lending Rate) from 13.70 percent to 13.40 percent.
This may not make a huge impact on the bank but will help a large number of customers who have borrowed loans at base rate (prior to April 2016).
SBI had last reduced its base rate by five basis points from 9 percent to 8.95 percent in September. This was followed by Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank among others.