State Bank Of India Cuts Fixed Deposit, Loan Interest Rates After RBI Move: 10 Points

Edited by Sandeep Singh (with inputs from Reuters)

28 Mar 2020, 02:16 PM IST

FD Rates: State Bank of India has announced a cut of 20-100 basis points in interest rates

In a press release, SBI said it passed on the entire benefit of the RBI rate cut to its borrowers availing loans linked to external benchmark- and repo-linked lending rates.
From April 1, SBI said its external benchmark-linked lending rate will be reduced to 7.05 per cent from 7.80 per cent, and repo rate-linked lending rate to 6.65 per cent from 7.40 per cent.
Consequently, SBI said giving an example, its EMIs against eligible home loans will come down by around Rs 52 per 1 lakh on a 30-year loan.
State Bank of India also announced a cut of 20-100 basis points in fixed deposit (FD) interest rates. These rates will take effect from March 28, SBI said.
SBI's retail fixed deposit interest rates were lowered by 20-50 basis points across tenors, and bulk term deposit rates by 50-100 basis points.
The banking behemoth said that the move was in view of "adequate liquidity in the system and the additional liquidity measures announced" in the RBI's monetary policy on Friday.
The impact of the RBI policy measures and the reduction in SBI's deposit rates will be reflected in the next review of marginal cost of funding-based lending rate (MCLR).
On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India lowered the repo rate by 75 basis points, the reverse repo rate by 90 basis points and the cash reserve ratio by 100 basis points to tackle the economic fallout from the rapidly-spreading coronavirus pandemic.
The government outlined a Rs 1.7 lakh-crore fiscal stimulus plan the previous day to support the poor through direct cash transfers and food security measures. It has asked people to stay indoors for three weeks in the world's biggest lockdown.
This week, the government made cash withdrawals using debit card free across ATMs for the next three months, and removed any penalty charges for failing to meet any minimum balance requirements set by banks.
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