Repo-linked deposit rates: A tiny half-step

SBI has not announced the linking of lending rates of longer-term loans for businesses and retail customers of home loans, personal loans, auto loans, etc. to make these true floating rates

On Friday, March 8, State Bank of India (SBI) announced that starting May 1, savings bank account deposits and short-term loans (overdraft and cash credit) above Rs 1 lakh would be linked to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) repo rate from. (Repo is the rate at which the central bank lends money to banks when they face shortage of funds.) 

Every single commentator I read has hailed the move as a logical next step, after the RBI asked the banks in December last year to link all new floating rate retail loans like home loans with an external benchmark from