HDFC Bank cuts base rate by 5 bps, brings it at par with SBI

MUMBAI: HDFC Bank, the country's second-largest private sector lender, has cut its base rate by 5 bps to 9.3% bringing its rate at par with State Bank of India. The latest rate cut is effective from January 4, 2016.

HDFC Bank has reduced its base rate by 70 basis points since April. The bank had slashed its base rate by a steep 35 bps in September. It had also cut this rate by 15 basis points twice, in April and June.

The Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had sprung a surprise in September when he cut the repurchase rate by a higher-than-expected 50 bps, the lowest the key interest rate has been in four years. The RBI had also cut repo rate twice by 25 bps in January and March, taking the total repo rate cut to 100 bps this year.

SBI had also cut its base rate by 40 bps in September bringing it to 9.3%. While the country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank had reduced its base rate by 35 bps to 9.35% in October.

HDFC Bank

State Bank of India