ICICI Bank home loans cheaper by up to 1%

Mumbai: Private sector ICICI Bank Thursday slashed its lending rates for home loans by 0.25-1 percent as part of a special festival offer.

The lending rate for home loans of up to Rs 30 lakh is 10.25 percent, down from 10.50 percent.

For loans between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 3 crore, the floating rate of interest would be 10.50 percent against the earlier rate of 11.50 percent, the bank said in a statement.

The new rates of interest will be applicable for fixed rate loans for one and two years as well, it added.

For a fixed rate loan that runs into three years, the new offering is at 10.50 percent for loans below Rs 30 lakh and 10.75 percent for those above Rs 30 lakh and up to Rs 3 crore, the bank said.

This special festival pricing is valid for sanctions till December 31, 2012, it said.

Earlier, State Bank had reduced rates in August and now offers the cheapest home loan after a reduction in its base rate by 0.25 percent to 9.75 percent. SBI now offers loans up to Rs 30 lakh at 10 percent and loans above Rs 30 lakh at 10.15 percent.
As per experts, many other banks are likely to come out with their festival offers on the back of ample availability of liquidity coupled with subdued growth in corporate lending.

So far, banks including Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Vijaya Bank have floated their special schemes to cash in on the festival demand.

In the second quarter, credit growth was almost flat at 0.1 percent at 16.4 percent against the Reserve Bank's guidance of 17-18 percent for this fiscal.

PTI