SBI cuts home loan rates 5-15 bps, offers uniform rate

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, on Tuesday cut its home loan rates by 5-15 basis points to a uniform rate of 10.15%, making its loans the cheapest in the market for all new home loan customers.

Irrespective of the quantum, women customers will get home loans at 10.10%. General customers can avail loans at 10.15% irrespective of the loan amount.

Existing customers of the bank can avail of the rates after paying a nominal switch fee.

One basis point is equivalent to one-hundredth of a percentage.

Earlier, male customers could borrow up to Rs 75 lakh at 10.30% and women customers at 10.25%.

A senior SBI official said, "We have lifted the slabs and made the rates uniform irrespective of the quantum of the loan. We will charge a nominal fee for existing customers who want to switch to the new schemes."

Experts said with corporate loan demand not reviving, banks are sitting on huge pile of cash which is forcing them cut rates on retail loans. SBI itself has excess cash of Rs 84,000 crore.

With the Reserve Bank of India reducing the amount of money that banks are mandated to hold in government bonds in its monetary policy announced on August 5 and hopes corporate recovery dimming with the latest Supreme Court ruling cancelling the coal block allocation, retail loans will continue to be the focus of most banks, experts said.

HDFC and ICICI Bank, the two other big players in the home loan market, recently cut rates to attract retail customers. HDFC, the second-largest mortgage lender, cut home loan rates to 10.15-10.65% for new salaried and self-employed professionals for loans up to Rs 75 lakh. The special rates are applicable for loans applied before August 31, and the first disbursement availed on or before September 30. For self-employed non-professional, HDFC charges higher rate of 10.25-10.75% for loans up to Rs 75 lakh.

Earlier this month, ICICI Bank announced a single rate of 10.15% for all floating rate home loans up to Rs 5 crore for salaried individuals. For self-employed individuals, floating rate interest 10.15% for loans up to Rs 75 lakh and 10.35% for loans from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 3 crore. Women customers can get 10.10% for loans up to Rs 25 lakh.

The new rate of interest is effective from August 14 for loans sanctioned up to August 31. The bank has also launched a 10-year fixed rate home loan product at 10.25%.