SBI hikes MCLR by up to 10 bps, customer loans likely to become costlier

State Bank of India, the country’s largest state-run lender, has hiked its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) across buckets by 5 to 10 basis points with effect from Monday. 

Most loans to corporates, including SMEs, are priced using MCLR as a benchmark. The revision in MCLR reflects the changes in cost of funds.

The lender hiked the rate for one month MCLR by five basis points to 8.35 per cent. For one year, MCLR has been hiked by 10 basis points to 8.85 per cent. For the three-year period, it has been raised by five basis points to 9.0 per cent, according to data uploaded on SBI website.

SBI executives said this revision is part of the process to pass on the increase in cost of funds to borrowers and protect margins. Bank is going about gradually raising MCLR rather than make a substantial hike in one go. There is still a room left for increasing MCLR by about 10 basis points. The call will be taken on the basis of market conditions, they added.

SBI’s cost of deposits in domestic business grew from 3.99 per cent in March 2023 to 4.81 per cent in March 2024. The net interest margins (NIMs) in domestic operations declined from 3.58 per cent in March 2023 to 3.43 per cent in March 2024.

Reserve Bank of India’s State of Economy report in June bulletin said Banks have revised their lending rates in response to the cumulative 250 basis points (Bps) hike in the policy repo rate since May 2022. The one -year median MCLR of commercial banks in India increased by 175 bps during May 2022 to May 2024.

The share of MCLR benchmarked loans was 39.4 per cent of the book of scheduled commercial banks at the end of December 2023, according to RBI’s monetary policy report (April 2024).