SBI hikes lending rates, EMIs to rise

July 7th, 2011 - 9:25 pm ICT by IANS  

State Bank of India Mumbai, July 7 (IANS) The country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), Thursday increased its lending rates by 25 basis points — a decision that will make commercial and retail loans costlier.

The bank also increased its deposit rates up to 100 basis points (1 basis point is hundredth of a percentage) for domestic term deposits. The new base rate will now stand at 9.5 percent while the benchmark prime lending rate will go up to 14.25 percent, the bank said in a regulatory statement.

Successive hikes in key interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has led to an increase in lending rates across banks. The RBI has hiked rates 10 times since March 2010 in a bid to contain high inflation.

Several banks, both state-owned and private, have passed on the increase in rates to consumers.

SBI said the rate changes would be effective from July 11.

Benchmark prime lending rate is the base used to compute interest charges on loans taken on a floating basis while the base rate is the minimum rate a bank will charge for loans.

With food inflation easing and policymakers claiming that overall inflation would fall in the coming months, analysts do not expect further stringent rate hikes from the RBI.

Industry has been clamouring against the rate hikes, telling policymakers that it was starting to affect growth.

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