Axis Bank hikes MCLR by 35 bps across tenors with effect from May 18

Private sector lender Axis Bank has hiked its marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 basis points across tenors, with effect from May 18.

Consequently, Axis Bank’s overnight and one-month MCLR now stands at 7.55 per cent as against 7.20 per cent earlier. The three-month MCLR now stands at 7.65 per cent; six months MCLR at 7.70 per cent; one year MCLR at 7.75 per cent, and two-year MCLR at 7.85 per cent. The three-year MCLR of the bank after the hike stands 7.90 per cent as against 7.55 per cent earlier.

The hike in MCLR by Axis Bank, the third largest private sector lender, comes after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked benchmark interest rate (repo rate) by 40 basis points to 4.40 per cent, in an off-cycle meeting to tame the rising headline inflation.

Recently, country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), also increased its MCLR by 10 bps. SBI has hiked its MCLR by 20 bps in two months. Earlier this month, HDFC Bank, hiked its MCLR by 25 basis points across all tenures, effective May 7.

As of December 2021, a little over 39 per cent of banking system loans are linked to the external benchmark, shows Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, with 58.2 per cent of the home loans linked to external benchmarks.

Consequent to the repo rate hike, a number of lenders have hiked their external benchmark linked rates. Many lenders have also raised their deposit rate post the rate hike.