Canara, Corporation Bank, others introduce repo linked loan products to meet 1 October deadline

New Delhi: Rushing to meet the RBI deadline of 1 October, many public sector lenders like Canara and Corporation Bank announced the launch of repo rate linked lending rate for faster transmission of interest rate cut to borrowers. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made it mandatory for banks to link their retail and MSME loans to external interest rate benchmarks effective October 1 for faster transmission of rate cut to borrowers. With banks launching this product, rates for home, car and personal loans will come down. Canara Bank in a regulatory filing said Repo Rate Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) of the bank for retail loans and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) is 8.30 per cent with effect from 1 October. It is widely expected that RBI is going to cut its benchmark lending rate in its bi-monthly monetary policy review on 4 October. [caption id=“attachment_119824” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Canara Bank logo. Reuters[/caption] With this reduction, the rate is going to further go down. Without informing the rate, Corporation Bank said it has decided to link all new floating rate loans to retail, personal segment and Micro & Small Enterprises (MSE) to Reserve Bank of India’s policy repo rate. “Our Bank has decided to Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) to Repo Rate + Mark Up that is (5.40 percent + 2.85 percent = 8.25 percent) with effect from October 1, until further review,” Indian Overseas Bank said. As a gesture to small borrowers, the bank has decided to charge Mudra loans up to Rs 50,000 at an interest rate of 8.25 percent, passing a benefit of 0.25 percent to these borrowers. Further, the bank announced its decision to link interest rate on savings accounts with a balance of Rs 25 lakh and above. However, the interest rate to be paid for such accounts is presently pegged at 4 percent level offered by the bank. In a bid to improve transparency, the RBI directed all banks to link loans to repo rate from 1 October. In 2019, the RBI reduced the repo or short-term lending rate by 110 basis points (bps), but the banks have reportedly passed on only up to 40 bps to borrowers.