PNB, BoB, Union Bank and Central Bank fix base rate at 8 per cent
29 Jun 2010
Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BoB), Union Bank, Central Bank of India and Bank of Rajasthan have fixed their base rate for lending at a uniform 8.0 per cent.
PNB said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange that the card rate under any lending scheme of the bank would be the sum of base rate and the spread.
PNB said it the Base Rate has been arrived at by taking the average cost of deposits of the last quarter as the benchmark.
The new rates are effective 1 July, as prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India.
Earlier in the day State Bank of India (SBI) had announced a base rate of 7.5 per cent.
Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, said the base rate would not have any impact on cost of funds for companies or on the growth of credit.
RBI had directed all the banks to switch over to the base rate system from the existing Benchmark Prime Lending Rates (BPLR) system with effective from 1 July.
All new loans sanctioned after 1 July and those falling due for renewal from 1 July, (except exempt categories as per RBI Guidelines) will now be priced with linkage to base rate.
