Bank of Maharashtra lowers home, car, and education loan rates, aligning with RBI’s recent repo rate cut.
Mumbai
Public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) announced on Sunday a 25-basis-point reduction in interest rates across several retail loan products, including home, car, education, and other RLLR-linked loans. The revised rates took effect, just a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the repo rate to 5.25 per cent to support economic growth.
Under the new structure, BoM’s home loans will now start at 7.10 per cent, while car loans will begin at 7.45 per cent. The bank described these rates as among the most competitive currently available in India’s banking sector. In a statement, BoM emphasized that lowering retail loan rates reflects its commitment to providing affordable financing solutions to customers, particularly at a time when interest rates have remained relatively high. The reduction is expected to provide relief to borrowers and encourage increased borrowing for homes, vehicles, and education.
The move follows the RBI’s latest monetary policy announcement, where Governor Sanjay Malhotra highlighted that the Monetary Policy Committee had unanimously decided to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points from 5.5 per cent to 5.25 per cent. The RBI also announced measures to boost liquidity, including open market purchases of government securities worth Rs 1 lakh crore and a $5 billion dollar-rupee swap arrangement. Governor Malhotra noted that India’s robust economic growth of 8.2 per cent in the second quarter, combined with a sharp decline in inflation to 1.7 per cent, created favorable conditions a Goldilocks period allowing the central bank to cut rates without jeopardizing price stability. He further raised the GDP growth forecast for the current financial year to 7.3 per cent and reiterated that the RBI would continue with a neutral policy stance, balancing support for growth while keeping inflation under control.
