Union Bank of India cuts lending rate by 50 basis points

RBI cut interest rates by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points on Friday

State-owned Union Bank of India has on Wednesday announced a reduction in its lending rate by 50 basis points in line with the rate moderation done by RBI last week.

Union Bank said in a statement that these changes include downward revision of External Benchmark Lending Rate (EBLR) and Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) by 50 basis points.

With this move, Union Bank of India said that it has completely aligned its EBLR and RLLR with the recent RBI rate cut which will be beneficial to new and existing retail (home, vehicle, personal, etc.) and MSME borrowers.

Following the RBI's decision to cut repo rate, many banks have slashed lending rate and the rest are also expected to follow suit soon.

Earlier on Friday, the RBI cut interest rates by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points, and unexpectedly reduced the cash reserve ratio for banks to make available more money to lend in a bid to boost the economy.

The RBI's six-member monetary policy committee, headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra and consisting of three external members, voted five to one to lower the benchmark repurchase or repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent.

It also cut the cash reserve ratio by 100 basis points to 3 per cent, adding Rs 2.5 lakh crore to already surplus liquidity in the banking system.