HDFC cuts home loan rates for women to match rivals' offerings

Mortgage major HDFC today offered home loans to women borrowers at 9.85 per cent, to make its loan pricing at par with that of rivals State Bank of India and ICICI Bank.
The product, christened 'Women Power', offers the differentiated rate of interest for women borrowers, as against 9.90 percent charged for other borrowers, HDFC said.
HDFC Managing Director Renu Sud Karnad said that it is aimed at promoting house ownership among women and give them the confidence of owning a house.
The loan will be subject to conditions like the woman being sole or joint owner of the property, she said, adding that loans for new homes, furnishing and for extending the existing debt will be available at 9.85 per cent while plot loans will come at 9.90 per cent.

With this cut, HDFC's offering comes at par with others like SBI and ICICI Bank, which offer loans to women at 9.85 per cent. In case of SBI, the offering is at par with its base rate or minimum rate of lending.
After its first bi-monthly policy cut for the fiscal, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had termed banks' contention of the cost of funds being high as "nonsense", expecting them to pass on the benefits of RBI's twin rate cuts to borrowers. Within hours, banks led by SBI started announcing the base rate cuts.
With the slowdown in the economy and slow demand from the corporate segment, retail has acquired greater prominence in banks' strategies. Within the retail, the high value and safer home loans are a preferred choice, which results in aggressive play.

HDFC is the market leader in mortgage market with a loan book close to Rs 1.6 trillion as of December 2014.