Auto, home and personal loans turn dearer post repo rate hike

NEW DELHI: Auto, home and personal loans have become costlier with banks and other financial institutions increasing interest rates following the repo rate hike by RBI on Wednesday.

A number of banks including ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of India, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and the country’s leading mortgage lender HDFC Ltd have raised lending rates for their customers.

Repo is the rate at which RBI lends to banks for their short-term borrowing needs.

In its June 8 second bi-monthly monetary policy meeting review for FY23, RBI raised the benchmark repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90 per cent with immediate effect. It followed an off-cycle rate hike of 40 basis points in May to rein in the soaring inflation in the country, mainly triggered by supply side woes due to Russia-Ukraine war.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank raised the repo linked External Benchmark Lending Rate (EBLR) with effect from June 8, 2022 to 8.60 per cent from 8.10 per cent earlier. Public sector lender Punjab National Bank has raised repo linked lending rate (RLLR) to 7.40 per cent from 6.90 per cent earlier. Bank of Baroda, the third largest bank in the public sector, raised the RLLR to 7.40 per cent.

HDFC Ltd has raised its Retail Prime Lending Rate (RPLR) for housing loans, on which its Adjustable Rate Home Loans (ARHL) are benchmarked, by 50 basis points, with effect from June 10, 2022. This translates into an increase of Rs 31 per Rs 1 lakh for a 20-year loan.

India’s largest lender State Bank of India had revised its EBLR to 7.05 per cent plus Credit Risk Premium (CRP), days before the RBI’s monetary policy announcement. Indian Bank has raised RLLR to 7.70 per cent, and Bank of India to 7.75 per cent.

Chennai-based public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank has raised RLLR to 7.75 pc with effect from June 10. Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra in a regulatory filing on Friday said it has raised RLLR to 7.70 per cent per annum from 7.20 per cent with immediate effect.

It also raised marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 30 basis points each for various tenors, with the benchmark one-year rate to 7.70 pc from 7.40 pc earlier. Canara Bank had raised the one-year MCLR to 7.40 per cent from 7.35 pc with effect from June 7, 2022.

Most of the consumer loans are linked to one-year MCLR rate. The MCLR system came into effect from April 1, 2016.

From October 1, 2019, all banks have to lend only at an interest rate linked to an external benchmark such as RBI’s repo rate or Treasury Bill yield. As a result, monetary policy transmission by banks has gained traction.

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