SBI Cuts External Benchmark Lending Rate By 25 bps, Home Loans To Become Cheaper

New Delhi, December 30: State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest lender on Monday announced the reduction in its External Benchmark Based Rate (EBR) by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.80 per cent per annum from 8.05 per annum with effect from January 1, 2020. 

With this reduction, interest rate for existing home loan customers as well as MSME borrowers who have availed loans linked to External Benchmark Based Rate would come down by 25 bps, the bank stated.
The new home buyers will get loans from SBI at an interest rate starting from 7.90 per cent per annum, which was previously at 8.15 per cent per annum.

Banks are required to reset the external benchmark based rate at least once in three months, depending on the movement of the underlying external rate like repo rate.

In October, the RBI had cut its benchmark lending rate or repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.15 per cent, the lowest since March 2010. But in this month's review, the central bank kept interest rates unchanged.