BackDid you know: most new home loans ride on 1-year MCLR
When banks cut MCLR, they usually do it for all the five MCLR baskets
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After the Reserve Bank of India cut repo rate by 25 basis points (bps), some banks such as Indian Bank and Canara Bank Ltd cut their marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) and their base rate. State Bank of India Ltd (SBI), the country’s largest lender, had cut its MCLR before the monetary policy announcement. MCLR is the new benchmark lending rate at which banks lend to new borrowers. The existing borrowers are still on base rate and have the option to switch to MCLR. Currently, MCLR is 5-10 bps lower than base rate. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
MCLR-linked loan
When banks cut MCLR, they usually do it for all the five MCLR baskets. For instance, when ICICI Bank reduced its MCLR by 5 bps, its overnight MCLR and 1-month MCLR came down to 8.85% each, the 3-month MCLR to 8.95%, 6-month MCLR to 9.00% and 1-year MCLR to 9.05%.
Out of the five MCLRs that banks publish on their websites, it is either the 6-month or the 1-year MCLR that is used as the benchmark rate for new home loan borrowers. For instance, SBI has benchmarked its home loan to 1-year MCLR, whereas Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has linked it to 6-month MCLR. Kotak Mahindra Bank’s 6-month MCLR is 9.20% and SBI’s 1-year MCLR is 9.05%. This also means there will be a reset clause in the loan document, which is linked to the tenure of the MCLR your home loan is linked to. In case of SBI it will be 1-year and for Kotak Mahindra Bank it will be 6 months.
Things to remember
All MCLR-linked loans come with a spread, which is the margin that you have to pay above the MCLR. For instance, ICICI Bank offers 1-year MCLR at 9.05%. For a home loan of up to Rs5 crore, the spread is 25 bps, which means your home loan interest rate will be 9.30%. For home loans above Rs5 crore, the spread is 50 bps above the 1-year MCLR.
Usually the spread is higher for larger loans.
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