Punjab National Bank cuts lending rate by 0.25%

Joining its peers, Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Wednesday cut its base rate by 0.25 per cent to 10 per cent, which will lead to lower EMIs for its customers.

The bank has revised downwards the base rate or minimum lending rate to 10 per cent from 10.25 per cent, effective May 7, PNB said in a statement.

All loans linked to its base rate will now come down by at least 0.25 per cent.

On Tuesday, Bank of Baroda, too, had cut base rate by 0.25 per cent to 10 per cent.

The country's largest lender, SBI, had reduced its base rate by 0.15 per cent to 9.85 per cent, effective April 10.

Banks such as SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank had cut lending rates by up to 0.25 per cent after RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's tough talk with bankers on April 7.

However, many others have not revised their rates yet.

The Reserve Bank had blamed banks for not passing the benefits of two repo rate cuts to borrowers and termed as "non-sense" the lenders' claims that cost of funds is high.

"The banks' marginal cost of funding (has) fallen, the notion that it hasn't fallen, is non-sense. It has fallen," Rajan had said.